6 delicious recipes for the first Christmas holiday. Soup, main course and dessert!

Christmas Eve is behind us, but the holidays continue.

The first Christmas holiday is often marked by family visits and lunches.

Get inspiration for your holiday menu from our Christmas Eve recipes.

They are traditional and original at the same time, and you don’t have to worry about feeling awkward after wearing them.

Which soup, main course or dessert will you try first?

Christmas broth with Celestine noodles

Instead of soup with classic noodles or dumplings, you can also try this option.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 and 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 eggs
• a pinch of granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• 4 cups of beef broth
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 leek
• 1/4 cup onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley

Method:

• Place the flour, salt, sugar, milk, eggs and butter in a blender.
• Leave the resulting dough to rest for 30 minutes.
• Pour a quarter cup of the batter into a hot pan with a little butter.
• Swirl the pan to spread the batter.
• When the edges of the dough start to peel away from the pan, carefully peel them away.
• Turn and fry for 30 seconds on the other side as well.
• Leave the resulting pancakes to cool for 15 minutes.
• In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and fry the chopped leek, celery, green onion and carrot for 5 minutes.
• Add the beef stock and bring to a boil.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley.
• Cut the pancakes into strips.
• Serve the warm soup warm with a handful of noodles.

Chestnut soup with onion and croutons not only for Christmas

In addition to the usual broths, you can also serve this unusual but very tasty soup with chestnuts at the holiday lunch.

Ingredients:

• 280 g boiled chestnuts cut into pieces
• 2 shallots
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 parsley
• 2 tbsp thyme
• 2 tablespoons of rosemary
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 300 ml of white wine
• 3 and 1/3 cups vegetable broth
• 6 and 1/2 tablespoons whipping cream
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Fried onion

• 2 white onions
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• a pinch of chili flakes
• salt

For croutons

• 2 slices of bread cut into cubes
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan on the stove, add the finely chopped shallot and fry until golden.
2. Stir in the pressed garlic and diced parsley, cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour in white wine, stir and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add vegetable stock, chestnuts and herbs.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
6. In the meantime, prepare the fried onions and croutons.
7. Heat oil in a pan and add chilli flakes and diced onion.
8. When the onion is fried, transfer it to a paper towel to cool and sprinkle with salt.
9. Then add a spoonful of oil to a hot pan and fry the cubed bread until golden.
10. Once the soup has finished cooking and has cooled for about 10 minutes, puree it with a hand-held immersion blender.
11. Add more or less cream to the soup according to your preferred thickness.
12. Season the soup with lemon juice, salt and pepper.
13. Garnish each bowl of soup with fried onion rings and croutons before serving.

Honey-roasted duck with red cabbage

Ingredients:

• 1 duck
• 4 tablespoons cumin
• 3 tablespoons of honey
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger

Red cabbage

• about half a head of red cabbage
• 1 onion
• 100 g lard
• 200 g of apples
• 200 g of potatoes
• caraway seeds
• salt
• vinegar
• sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 130°C.
2. Clean, wash and dry the duck thoroughly.
3. Salt and season the duck inside and out with cumin and ginger.
4. Then put the duck in the roasting pan, cover with a little water and cover with the other part of the roasting pan.
5. Place the baking tray in the preheated oven and bake for approximately 2 hours.
6. Brush the duck with honey while baking.
7. After this time, transfer the duck from the roasting pan to the tray and
8. Then transfer the duck to a baking sheet.
9. Set the oven to 180°C and bake the duck until golden brown.
10. In the meantime, process the baking.
11. Saute it in a small amount of fat and add flour.
12. Fry, cover with a small amount of water and cook lightly.
13. Strain the juice through a fine sieve before serving.
14. While baking, also prepare the cabbage.
15. Let’s prepare the red cabbage.
16. Finely chop the onion and fry in a pot on lard with a little cumin.
17. Add the shredded cabbage and cover so that the whole cabbage is submerged in water.
18. Season with a little salt, sugar and vinegar.
19. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
20. When the cabbage is almost cooked, remove two-thirds of the water.
21. Add finely grated raw potatoes and apples.

Try this duck with red cabbage for Christmas with potato or Karlovy Vary dumplings.

Festive ham with mustard and apples

Baked Christmas ham is very popular in Sweden. Treat yourself to it on the first day of Christmas!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 kg whole ham (with or without the bone)
• 110 g of brown sugar
• 60 g Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 480 ml of apple cider
• sliced apples for garnish
• fresh thyme for garnish

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. Cut the skin on the surface of the ham in the shape of crosses.
3. Cover the ham with foil, place in the baking dish and bake for an hour to an hour and a half.
4. During the last 45 minutes of baking, prepare the glaze.
5. In a small saucepan over low heat, heat and combine the brown sugar, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, and apple cider.
6. Cook until reduced by half, then baste the ham every 10 minutes.
7. Remove the ham from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes.
8. Then transfer it to a serving plate with apples and thyme.

Ham on Christmas Eve is best served with a variety of potato side dishes.

Lemon panna cotta or Christmas Eve in Italy

Ingredients:

• 400 ml of whipping cream
• 4 slices of gelatin
• 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
• 1 lemon juice and peel
• mint leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Let the gelatin swell in lukewarm water.
2. In the meantime, start heating the cream with the dissolved sugar.
3. When the cream starts to smoke, add the swollen gelatin to it.
4. Mix thoroughly and when the panna cotta is almost done, add the grated lemon zest and juice.
5. Mix and fill the prepared glasses with the mixture.
6. Leave to harden for approximately 2 hours in the refrigerator.
7. At the end, decorate this Christmas dessert with lemon peel and mint leaves.

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Pancakes in the shape of a Christmas tree

Simple and very interesting-tasting cookies, for which you need several other spices in addition to ginger.

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 banana
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 tbsp ground chia seeds
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp of spirulina or matcha powder
• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• pomegranate seeds and raspberry for decoration

Method:

1. In a bowl, first mix the dry ingredients, i.e. flour, chia seeds, salt, baking powder.
2. Add the wet ingredients and mix until lumps form.
3. Heat a non-stick pan and add coconut oil.
4. Spoon the batter onto the pan, starting with a large circle for the base of the tree.
5. Each subsequent pancake will be slightly smaller in size to create a tree.
6. Fry the pancakes on both sides until bubbles form and they are lightly browned.
7. Then stack the individual pancakes on top of each other in the shape of a tree for Christmas.
8. Add pomegranate seeds between the individual pancakes and put a raspberry on the top pancake.
9. Serve drizzled with maple syrup.

God’s feast and cooking

Even on the first Christmas holiday, you can indulge in traditional snacks that belong to this time, but all in a light form. Christmas Eve recipes are a great example of this. They are tasty, but not too fatty or hearty. That way, you won’t have a hard time with your stomach after the holiday lunch, and you’ll be able to enjoy a few pieces of candy with your coffee without any problems.