The best Christmas recipes and how many items should be on the holiday menu

Recipes for Christmas meals must meet certain requirements. There are traditions that housewives have observed from time immemorial, they should not be broken. But you can diversify your festive meal using unusual ingredients, they will help change the taste of food. How to surprise guests and meet the holiday at a delicious table?

How many dishes should be on the Christmas table

Christmas is celebrated with the family and it is a tradition that should not be broken. There are other customs related to the festive table. As a rule, housewives prepare 12 traditional dishes, put them on the table and call family members. The meal begins when the first star appears in the sky. There are 12 apostles in the Bible, which means that there should be a dozen dishes on the table. This is a rule that is strictly followed, while the food should be lean.

Attention! It is believed that Christmastide has a “host and hostess” - these are prepared dishes that must be present on the festive table. These are: uzvar and kutia. With them and begin the meal.Religious people believe that if Christmas is celebrated correctly, the next year will be successful.

12 traditional Lenten dishes for Christmas

According to the number of the apostles, the following dishes are prepared:

1. In Russia, it is customary to start a meal with kutya, it is placed at the head of the table. Other dishes are started after all family members have tasted kutya. It can be made from barley, rice or wheat, with the addition of honey and raisins.
2. Uzvar is a thick compote made from dried fruits. He is considered the host of the Christmas meal. Preparing such a dish is not difficult if you follow the recipe rigorously.
3. You can diversify the holiday menu with baked apples - they serve as a dessert, their preparation will not take much time.
4. Since the dishes should be lean, you can improvise a little and put the vinaigrette on the table. This salad is well known, and its recipe is suitable for both experienced and novice housewives.
5. It is impossible to imagine a table without a hot dish, especially if it is festive, for this reason we offer to please guests and loved ones with lean borscht. It is cooked in vegetable broth without using meat.
6. Baked fish will be the key dish on the table.It can be salmon, sockeye salmon or pink salmon. You can bake the fish in the oven, sprinkle it with grated cheese and garnish with herbs.
7. As a snack, you should use lavash baked with vegetables. Its preparation will not take much time, it is enough to cut vegetables (they are chosen according to taste). Then it is wrapped in pita bread and sent to the oven.
8. It is worth serving sweets made from fruits. Nuts and dried fruits are crushed, and then candy is made from the resulting mass (formed independently).
9. Baked potato. An interesting dish that will decorate a lean table. The vegetable is cooked in the oven, you can add sour cream, cheese or bake it with an avocado.
10. Dumplings with cherries. Mentioned in the work of Nikolai Gogol, they were put on the table in the story "The Night Before Christmas". In the classic recipe, the dumplings have a thin dough and liquid filling.
11. Cabbage rolls with champignons. If you do not shine with culinary skills, then you can make lazy cabbage rolls by chopping cabbage, adding mushrooms and rice.
12. Warm salad with rice and beans. It is not necessary to use green beans during cooking. Canned is also suitable. Rice is cooked as usual, other ingredients are added to it: olives, onions, beans. Serve the salad warm.

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What can be served on the table during the Christmas holidays

It is not difficult to prepare meals for guests, the main thing is to put a little effort and effort. On Christmas Eve, you can eat not only vegetables and fruits. The festive table will be decorated with baked game and a pie with eggs. Let's find out how to cook them correctly, according to what recipe.

Christmas goose and duck

This is a Russian dish, you can use any game to create it. Some people prefer chicken. Others choose turkey. But let's take a look at the classic recipe:

• the game is washed under running water;
• the carcass is cleaned of excess skin;
• rub with spices, add lemon juice to taste;
• you can use a mixture of olive oil, pepper and salt, as well as chopped garlic;
• it will take about 45-60 minutes to cook a duck or goose, bake in the oven at a temperature of 200 degrees.

If this is too long, then the carcass is cut up, placed on a baking sheet in parts and baked in the oven for at least half an hour.

Christmas Guinea Fowl

This dish is difficult to prepare, but its taste will surprise and delight. Various ingredients are required for cooking: pumpkin, tangerines, lemon juice, guinea fowl, rosemary, spices. Cooking method:

1. The guinea fowl is washed and cleaned.
2. Then the chestnuts are scalded with boiling water and fried in a pan.
3. They send a carcass to the oven, stuff it with tangerines.
4. At this time, the pumpkin is cut into slices.
5. Glaze is prepared from lemon juice and sugar.
6. An hour later, the guinea fowl is removed from the oven.
7. Put pumpkin on a baking sheet.
8. Cover the carcass with foil, keep it in the oven for another hour at a temperature of 160 degrees.
9. Then pour over the glaze prepared earlier and add the chestnuts.

Goose in foil

Let's cook a goose with apples, it will become a real table decoration:

• make a marinade from garlic, orange juice, rosemary and olive oil;
• rub a well-washed goose with it;
• put the carcass in a baking bag, leave it in the refrigerator overnight;
• in the morning we will wash the apples, cut them into slices, remove the seeds;
• Stuff the carcass with apples, and then send it to the oven, previously wrapped in foil.

Christmas cupcake

We suggest using a ready-made muffin mixture. The filling for baking will be dried fruits - they are washed and ground in a blender. Then it is wrapped in cooked dough. Sprinkle with icing sugar on top. It is recommended to use as additional ingredients: orange juice and zest, rosemary sprigs.

Christmas Ring Pie

Prepared with chicken and eggs. A delicious dish that will decorate the festive table:

1. Defrost the puff pastry.
2. Peel onions, carrots and garlic, chop them and fry in a pan until half cooked.
3. Fillet is minced with a meat grinder and mixed with boiled eggs.
4. The filling is rolled into puff pastry and the roll is sent to the oven.

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You can form a ring from the dough, but do not chop the eggs, put them whole on the dough.

Christmas stollen

The complex recipe for this sweet cake will require making yeast dough. Dough is set for 2 hours. For 6 hours of milking, dried fruits are poured with rum, then sent to a colander.

Stollen is cooked at 170 degrees in an oven.

Cerro - "Christmas Log"

We'll have to make a biscuit. Then make a cream from milk, vanilla sugar, powder and cocoa powder. Roll up the biscuit roll, remove the paper, then unfold it, holding the edges, then grease with cream, sprinkle with grated chocolate on top, roll the "log" into a roll.

Christmas Light Snack Cake

Prepared like an open puff pastry pie. The appetizer is made separately - vegetables and liver are fried in a pan (do according to your favorite recipe). Then place the pre-prepared filling on the dough and bake the pie in the oven for 30 minutes. Use dill, herbs, tomatoes, and cucumbers as decorations.

Christmas duck with mushrooms and nuts

Champignons and nuts are fried with onions and carrots in a pan. Then the resulting mixture is used as a filling. The duck is sent to the oven for an hour. Before sending, pour over lemon juice or balsamic vinegar and bake for another 40 minutes.

Gingerbread "Arkhangelsk Kozuli"

A very interesting delicacy that is prepared using caramel. It is added to the dough, then the layer is rolled out and with the help of molds they give the desired shape. Roe deers are garnished with cranberries or lingonberries. Traditional gingerbread dough, according to the classic recipe.

Walnut-poppy roll

The recipe is simple. Take puff pastry, it should be rolled into a layer, before that mix poppy with walnuts or other nuts. Spread the filling evenly, twirl the dough. Brush with egg white, send to the oven. You can use honey in the filling process. Sprinkle the roll with powder on top. Cinnamon or vanilla will give the baked goods a flavor.

Fish with ginger sauce

We offer to grind the ginger root, mix it with lemon juice, thyme. Rub the fish with this mixture (any will do). Place onions in rings and place in the oven for 40 minutes. After that, decorate the dish with sprigs of herbs and serve.

Stuffed eggplants, in the oven

Prepare a mixture of garlic and olive oil, rub the eggplant cut lengthwise with it. Fry vegetables in a pan until half cooked. Then they are sent to the oven for 10-15 minutes. The appetizer will turn out to be very spicy.

Apples baked with honey and nuts

Apples are baked in the oven, then honey and nuts are applied to them, like glaze.Another recipe can be used. A mixture of honey and chopped nuts is put inside the peeled fruits. The apples are baked in the oven until cooked, 10-15 minutes is enough.

Spicy pumpkin

An exceptional recipe that involves cleaning the vegetable from seeds and internal contents. You can chop the pumpkin or bake it whole. If you choose the first option, melt the honey and pour over the vegetable slices. You can use caramel.

If you decide to surprise your guests, don't be afraid to experiment. Spices and herbs will help diversify the table, give dishes a new taste, surprise with aroma.