Christmas,
Christmas and it’s already after Christmas – that’s what we say in Polish when these
long- awaited holidays finish. I hope you had a wonderful time. What makes it
so nice is undoubtedly the special yummy food we eat during Christmas. To
prolong the festive atmosphere let me recall the delicious food we ate during
Christmas Eve Supper in my family. Most
of the stuff is eaten only once a year – just on that special evening. The absolute hit and the first thing to
indulge in is the beetroot soup eaten with little mushroom dumplings called ‘little
ears’. It can be replaced by a mushroom or fish soup. Then the second course is served – in my home
it is fried carp with mushrooms, pierogi (special Polish dumplings) with
cabbage and mushroom filling, cabbage with mushrooms, herbs and spices boiled
for a few days and boiled cabbage with peas. The other things include all sorts of fish – usually herring
prepared in different ways - under the ‘duvet’ of grated apples, onion and cream, marinated one,
with walnuts and prunes or fried fish
with vegetables called Fish a la Greek (!).
There is also a tartar sauce and grated cold beetroot, usually prepared
with horseradish. If we add a special
compote made of smoked dried fruit there will be 12 obligatory dishes. 12 like
12 months of the year or 12 days of Christmas;-). For dessert you can choose
from pasta with poppy seeds and walnuts, poppy-seed cake, various types of gingerbread
and nicely-decorated cookies. One very important traditional Christmas Eve dish
in Poland is sweet kutia - boiled wheat with poppy seeds and honey , which,
shame to say, I have only eaten once or twice in my life. The dishes differ a little depending on the
region of the country, but main principles are observed everywhere – no meat on
that day and a lot of fish, cabbage, poppy seeds and gingerbread.
Mmm…. Yummy…..
It’s so sad that I’ll have to wait another year for all these delicacies…
