The Cross and the Cleaver: It’s Christmas!
By Rev. Piotr
Traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner consists of 12, meatless dishes. Though variety and preparation of those dishes varies from region to region, from one ethnic/cultural group to another.
Let me tell you about Christmas Eve dinner of my childhood and my youth. Once married, my parents decided to balk the 12 dishes tradition and combine the favourite recipes from their respective backgrounds into seven dishes menu. My mum is from Warsaw, my dad from Cracow, and for over 50 years the Christmas Eve dinner was thus…
The room already smelling of a real pine Christmas tree, set up just hours earlier, mixing with enticing aromas wafting from the kitchen. The table covered with white tablecloth, with a handful of hay stuffed underneath. There would always be an extra place setting for an unexpected guest or stranger, for on that Holy Night nobody should be alone. At the centre of the table a small plate with “opłatek,” a rectangular wafer, or several – enough for everyone apiece. We would gather around the table, all dressed up. My father would read a passage of the Scripture, and then we would all share the “opłatek” with one another. While breaking off pieces of each other’s wafer we would exchange best wishes for the upcoming year. Then we would sit, and we would eat, and what a feast it was!!!! Take a gander…
- Prune compote (sometimes made from smoked ones, and if you have never had it, you don’t know what you are missing).
- Boiled potatoes (peeled).
- Boiled red cabbage, with white beans (like cannellini) and apple.
- Clear borsht (fermented not just boiled!) with fine mushroom* mince stuffed “uszka” (meaning “little ears” – reminiscent of tortellini).
- Perogies stuffed with fried sauerkraut with mushrooms.
- Carp fish fillets breaded and pan-fried (think similar but more delicate texture than that of halibut or lobster).
- Christmas sauerkraut with mushrooms.
*every time you read “mushroom” in these recipes, it implies a wild, dried, reconstituted mushrooms, and then processed accordingly. In communist times, depending on financial resources and dried, wild, mushrooms availability a mixture of minced white mushrooms and breadcrumbs (in various proportions) would be used.
Let me share with you, at least 70 years old, recipe of that Christmas sauerkraut. It comes from my mum, who got it from her mum, and before that …. Who knows 😊
CHRISTMAS EVE SAUERKRAUT
1L sauerkraut, squeeze as much liquid as you can, rinse if too sour for your taste. Add 2-3 tablespoons of oil, barely cover with liquid from reconstituted mushrooms (see below), top with water if needed, bring to a boil and then simmer on low for altogether 1 hour.
Add pinch of pepper and few bay leaves.
Add reconstituted (soaked in water for 3-12 hours), wild, dried mushrooms, chopped roughly. Boletus (porcini, penny buns) are a classic but use what you can get. I buy mine at Costco, though have seen them at Family Foods or Co-op.
Add small finely chopped onion.
When sauerkraut feels soft, add a small, chopped, and fried onion.
Serve, enjoy and …. WESOŁYCH ŚWIĄT (Merry Christmas in Polish)😊
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