In Poland, depending on the region, on Christmas Eve people eat borscht or mushroom soup. Some families prepare both. There are also families which make excellent fish soup. My mum always made mushroom soup and served it with fettuccini. Sometimes she made fish soup with the leftover fish after preparing jellied carp. This gentle fish broth with carrot and small noodles was for the children who were hungry before Christmas Eve supper.

We love fish soup, so sometimes I prepare it in my kitchen. I like this awesome soup with many kinds of fish and seafood, so it isn't a cheap dish. But it is worth it.

I cook my soup in stages. Firstly, I slowly cook fish broth with lots of vegetables and seasoning. Then I spice up my soup with some tomatoes and pepper, and finally I add the fish, shrimps and octopus and boil on a low heat so as not to break up the fish pieces. There are many ingredients, but it is easy. Firstly I prepare all the ingredients beforehand, so I only need to add things, stir and spice it up. At the end I like to add a lot of coriander, but because my family doesn't like it, I usually use dill instead.

Ingredients (for 5 people)
800g of different kinds of fish
20 shrimps
2-3 cooked tentacles of an octopus
fish bouillon
leftover fish: heads, bodies with bones, fins, shrimp shells
2 carrots
2 parsley roots
a piece of celery root
a piece of leek
1 clove of garlic
1 big onion
3 bay leaves
4 allspices
6-8 peppers
2 twigs of rosemary

As well as the other excellent dishes which we prepare for Christmas Eve supper, I cannot imagine the Christmas table without meat in jelly. Every year either my daddy or I prepare pork foot jelly. I like a lot of meat in the jelly. I always boil pork foot to make a strong jelly and pork knee to have a lot of meat. I spice it traditionally with a lot of garlic and marjoram. I serve it with lemon juice or grated horseradish and fresh bread. Yummy!

Ingredients:
1 pork foot
2 small pork knees
1kg of carrot
0.5kg of parsley root
a piece of celery root
a piece of leek
half an onion
2 tablespoons of marjoram
2-3 cloves of garlic
3 peppers
2 allspices
1 bay leaves
salt and pepper

Everyone associates the winter and December with Christmas, family atmosphere, and the spicy fragrance of cakes and cookies. Today I decided to welcome to my home the warm flavour of cinnamon rolls, which are excellent with a cup of hot cocoa. They are also a nice part of the school packed lunch. I put small cinnamon rolls into my daughter's lunch box. It was a shame that I couldn't see her face when she opened her box. I don't think this is the last time I'll prepare cinnamon rolls this year.

Ingredients:
dough
250g of flour
7g of dry yeast
1 egg
75g of sugar
125ml of milk
40 g of butter
a pinch of salt
filling
70g of butter
20g of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of vanilla sugar
70g of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of lemon zest
lemon icing

Pęczotto and risotto are my current favourite dishes. Risotto is a dish which needs involvement and intuition. One ladle of bouillon too many and we have overcooked rice. In this respect pęczotto is much easier. I don't know anybody who can overcook pearl barley 

The recipe for risotto and pęczotto is similar. We cook slowly and add ladle by ladle hot bouillon until we have a dish with a wonderful creamy texture. Groats and mushrooms taste excellent together, so I decided to prepare pęczotto with mushrooms and spinach. Instead of parmesan I added grated cheddar to my pęczotto. It was a great combination of ingredients.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
120g of pearl barley
1 shallot
2 cloves of garlic
0.5kg of mushrooms
2 fistfuls of new spinach
4 tablespoons of grated cheddar
3 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of pistachios
150ml of dry white wine
1.5l of vegetable bouillon

As every year before Christmas, I will prepare traditional herrings with onion, and herrings with cream sauce with apples and pickled cucumber. Also, just like every year I will try out a few new herring recipes. For a start, I recommend herring salad with red currants and cashew nuts. The fat fish is excellent with sour fresh fruit and the nuts are nice and crunchy. I add a bit of chilli pepper and a lot of parsley to spice up my salad. If you like, replace the parsley with coriander. Chill the salad before serving. It tastes much better than just after preparation.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
4 pieces of herring in oil
2 fistfuls of red currants
2 tablespoons of olive oil
a piece of chili pepper
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
half a small onion
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
a fistful of cashew nuts