Without herrings we can't imagine the Christmas Eve table. We can prepare them in the traditional way with onion, or with dried plums, or as a salad. Choose your favourite version: sweet, spicy or dry.

Serve them in an unconventional way in small glasses or tiny bowls with French pastry. This dish can be a decoration for the Christmas table, New Year's Eve dinner or a meeting with friends.

Today I would like to share with you my own set of salads. Everybody can find something for themselves. One of them is more spicy with pineapple, the second is with gherkins and the third is sweet with cranberries.

Ingredients (for two people)
6 bowls with French pastry
Salad 1
100g of herrings in oil
5 slices of tinned pineapple
half a chili pepper
2 tablespoons of minced chives
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of pineapple juice

There are some dishes which we order with great enjoyment in restaurants and cafés, but it seems to us that preparing them at home would be very awkward and difficult. However, if we have a good set up and are not put off by early failures, we can in fact prepare some of the dishes in our kitchen. All housewives also know that it is possible to simplify certain recipes without losing the quality of the dish.

It is not worth trying new recipes for important meetings. In case of failure you would then have to look for a cake shop to replace the mess in the kitchen with something sweet. Before Christmas my mum always sets aside one day for baking cakes. Usually, at least some of them are not suitable for the Christmas table (of course, they rarely they go to waste, because who doesn't like sweet and moist sad layer cake).When she bakes a cake randomly at the weekend however, they are always irreproachable.

One of the desserts which I haven't worked myself up to preparing is tiramisu. In every recipe I have found raw yolks. I have a principle: I don't eat them and I don't serve them to my family. I discovered, however, that without eggs this dessert is equally tasty and its consistency is excellent.

Ingredients:
200g of sponge biscuit
3 espressos
4 tablespoons of amaretto

According to tradition, on the Christmas Eve table there should be lenten soup: red borscht with ravioli or kalduny, mushroom- or fish soup. Although fasting during the Christmas Eve supper has for some time been tradition only, I can't imagine serving baked pork knuckle or sour rye soup with white sausage on this day.

The master of fish soup is my daddy, who has always prepared Christmas carp along with cooking the soup. I usually prepare mushroom soup for Christmas Eve. For a few years I have cooked it by following my mother-in-law's recipe. Everybody harmoniously says that there isn't a better one. It is on our table only for Christmas, which makes it all the more special. On Christmas Eve we have the whole family over, so I should have a lot of soup. I cook it in my biggest pot and if the soup doesn't disappear on Christmas Eve, it definitely will on Boxing Day. We serve this soup with fettuccini, but it is so aromatic and filling that it is great to have a slice of bread with it too.

Ingredients:
80-100 g of dried mushrooms (bolete or porcini mushrooms)
3 carrots
3 parsley roots
a piece of leek
2 bay leaves

The original recipe for Afghan cookies comes from the book "Cookies" by carl Bardi. The author claims that they don't have anything in common with Afghanistan. They come from New Zealand and nobody knows why they are called "Afghan cookies".

They come across as fast and easy, they don't need sophisticated ingredients and they were chocolaty. This is important, especially when the weather outside is increasingly less like a Polish golden autumn. The next time I will modify the recipe. Maybe I will add some dates or raisins. I see a lot of possibilities. In the original version the cookies are crunchy and chocolaty, and they are excellent for afternoon coffee or tea. They have only one fault: they disappear from the plate too fast.

Ingredients:
180g of butter
100g of brown sugar
200g of flour
30g of cocoa
200g of corn flakes
40g of desiccated coconut
100g of dark chocolate
30g of minced walnuts

Some time ago, I was a spectator at a bake-off of the most well-known chefs in Poland. The winner was a dish which consisted of a minimum of ingredients. It was a simple dish, but it was excellent due to the high quality products used to prepare it. In my opinion, choosing the right ingredients to make the ideal dish is a sign of artistry. The dish should stimulate all our senses.

My recipe today is for a salad which is a combination of ingredients which seemingly do not go together well. You will need kiwi fruit. I used golden ones, but for this salad green ones would also be fine. You have to buy radish shoots and slices of smoked bacon or raw smoked ham. Strange ingredients? Try them; they greatly complement each other.

Ingredients:
rocket
2 golden kiwis
radish shoots
4 big slices of raw smoked ham
a fistful of almonds
dip:
3 tablespoons of olive oil