Traditional Christmas dinners around the world

Christmas time is coming and we are ready to meet our friends and family at the Christmas Eve table. Maybe you are bored of having the same dishes every year? What about having traditional Italian Christmas dinner or that from Poland? Let's try to learn some interesting facts about Christmas dinners from different countries.

And we shall start from Italy! Italy is a country with different traditions for different regions. However, some Christmas dinner recipes are common across the country. Herbal soup with meatballs, marinated vegetable salad, roast fish bass, salt cod, fried calamari, crab, lasagna noodles, champagne risotto are popular items.

Source: xmasblor.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/chr

Here is the recipe of marinated vegetable salad you will surely like:

Ingredients: Distilled white vinegar, 1 cupWhite sugar, ¼ cup Canola oil, ½ cup Peeled and thinly sliced cucumbers,2 cups Thinly sliced carrots, 2 cups Ground black pepper, ½ tsp Celery seed, 1 tsp Chopped celery, ½ cup Onions sliced into rings.

Preparation

Put sugar, celery seeds, black pepper, vinegar, oil, and salt in a jar. Shake well. In a separate mixing bowl add all the vegetables and pour the dressing over them. Mix it gently and keep it to chill for almost 3 hours.

Source: 2.bp.blogspot.com/_pQu3QdUU2P0/TJEu_tbMDhI/

Now we are moving to Poland! Traditional Polish Christmas table consists of 12 dishes. Old Polish tradition – to eat a piece of herring under the chiming clock. It is believed that the more marinated the herring the more successful will be the year. The obligatory dish is fish – the symbol of marital happiness. This easy recipe for Polish baked trout is drizzled with garlic butter.

Ingredients: 2 crushed garlic cloves; 1/2 stick softened butter;4 medium scaled and dressed whole trout, heads and tails on;Lemon juice; Salt and pepper;Flat-leaf parsley.

Preparation

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly coat a large, shallow baking pan with cooking spray. Make the garlic butter by mixing garlic and butter in a small bowl.

Rinse trout and pat dry with paper towels. Pour lemon juice inside and outside of fish and then season well with salt and pepper. Melt the reserved garlic butter and drizzle half lightly over fish. Put fish in prepared pan and cover loosely with foil. Bake 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 5-10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when the tip of a knife is inserted (don't use a fork).

Bon Appetit and Merry Christmas!