Every time I make eggs in horseradish sauce for dinner, I wonder why I make it so rarely. When my daughter was going to kindergarten one of the mums was nervous about the fact the children had eggs in horseradish sauce for dinner. Reportedly, a kindergarten is not a milk bar. It was strange because it was only a problem for the mum. Her daughter relished this dinner.

My family demands a huge amount of the sauce. For this dinner I serve boiled potatoes and broccoli, which are all swimming in the sauce. Maybe it doesn't look attractive, but it tastes excellent...

Ingredients:

4 eggs

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of flour

200ml of vegetable stock or water

2 tablespoons from a jar of grated horseradish

salt

I think I must have made creamy soup from every vegetable. Recently, my friend made me aware that I had forgotten about leek. Until recently I always thought of leeks as ingredients in traditional soups or salads. Now cream of leek will be a permanent soup on our menu.

This robust soup, slightly mollified with sweet cream, warms us up on winter afternoons. Making use of a recipe by Karol Okrasa, you may  serve it with smoked cottage cheese. You should try it – it is an interesting combination.

Ingredients:

3 leeks

half celery roots

2 potatoes

2 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of oil

1 tablespoon of butter

a half stock cube

a half teaspoon of ground coriander

a pinch of red pepper

3 tablespoons of sweet cream

The winter has finally decided to let everybody know about itself. Day after day it has simply become cold. It comes as no surprise. After all, it is January. This kind of weather could have started over a month ago. I don't like extreme weather. I definitely prefer a temperate climate. I like a not too hot summer and a not so frosty winter. Snow is overrated, and I would like to see it only in the mountains and city parks.

However, since we do have such a climate, we should rescue ourselves somehow. Today my proposal is for an especially tasty and warming horseradish soup. I found an inspiring recipe in the online Lidl cookery book. The soup is flavorsome and the decoration of chives could be a shy invitation for spring to come. Ok, I exaggerated a little with the idea of spring in January, but you should try the soup.

Ingredients:

6 potatoes

2 stock cubes

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

3 tablespoons of horseradish

160g of Parma ham

1 teaspoon of marjoram

100ml of heavy cream

1 tablespoon of butter

4 eggs

2 tablespoons of chives

salt and pepper

Everybody knows that we should eat fish. In Poland we most often go for salmon, trout, codfish or herrings. Zander, flounder and, less commonly, sole, turbot and rose fish take possession of our summer holiday table. During my seaside holiday I often buy smoked halibut. I like its delicate texture and, obviously, its inimitable taste. More rarely, halibut appears on our table as a dinner dish. This is a big mistake.

Halibut, like every sea fish, is a valuable source of iodine – an ingredient necessary for children's growth. If it is missing from our diet, it could contribute to difficulties in learning. Halibut also contains antibacterial copper, iron, zinc, calcium and phosphorus. Reportedly, fish oil soothes our trouble with rheumatic joints.

In one of my favorite trips with Karol Okrasa there appeared a recipe for rolls, or rather stuffed savoy cabbage with halibut. Today I decided to try it.

Ingredients:

400g of halibut fillets

4 leaves of savoy cabbage

a few sprigs of fresh dill

When my kids asked me what I was going to serve for dinner, I answered with a wink that it would be a cake. I was almost telling the truth. It really was a cake but this time not a sweet one. It was a French pastry tart with smoked salmon. I used hot smoked salmon, but you can use cold smoked salmon or lightly fried fresh fish.

When making this dish I couldn't decide between cold smoked fish and hot smoked fish. Hot smoked fish is boiled and smoked at 50-85C. The salt content is lower so the use-by date is shorter than with cold smoked fish. The process of cold smoking happens at 15-25C and there is no boiling involved. The outside of the fish is first strongly dried and then the fish is smoked. The salt content is higher so the use-by date is longer than that of hot smoked fish.

Ingredients:

1 pack of chilled French pastry

300g of fresh spinach leaves

1 tablespoon of butter

2 cloves of garlic

1 broccoli

200g of hot smoked salmon

3 eggs

150ml of 30% sweet cream

150g of grated mozzarella cheese

salt and pepper