People from Poland have two very distinct ways of celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Rick and Elaine combined the two at an open house where one side of the table featured Christmas Eve dishes and the other side featured dishes from Christmas Day. The Poles love to have fish, but Rick and his friends aren't big on this food, so the meal contains no fish.
Oplatki (O-pwaht-kee) are thin wafers that have four
beautiful Christmas images stamped into them. The images include the Nativity,
the Star of Bethlehem, or the Holy Family. Break off
a piece of the wafer and do a blessing. This blessing can simply consist of
what you desire for your loved ones in the upcoming year - whether it be good
health, success, or happiness. The purpose of this act is primarily to
express unconditional love and forgiveness for each member of the family.
The Front Side of the Table--The front side represents Christmas Eve in Poland. No meat is served.
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| Deviled eggs |
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| Borscht
Instead of being the chunky style of beet soup that is found in other Eastern European nations, Polish Borscht consists of nothing more than rich vegetable broth and a few cut up beets. The broth consists of leeks, carrots, celery, beets, parsley and dill.
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| Bigos Bigos is the national dish of Poland and is made with sauerkraut, cabbage mushrooms and a mixture of Polish sausage, spareribs, fried pork, cooked ham and pork hocks. The only time bigos is served without meat is on Christmas Eve. |
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| Pierogies (Potato and cheese) and Cherry |
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| Red Cabbage Salad This delicious salad is made from apples, red cabbage, lemon, sugar, and garnished with fresh parsley and hard boiled eggs. |
The Back Side of the Table--The back side represents Christmas Day in Poland.·
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| Cabbage Rolls The cabbage leaves are stuffed with ground pork, ground beef and rice. They are covered with a tomato and beef broth sauce. See the October 4, 2013 post for the recipe. |
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| Ham
It's hard to believe, but there are some
guests who don't like Polish food. So,
in keeping with the Polish tradition of
serving meat on Christmas day, we
have added ham to the menu along
with bread rolls, lettuce, tomatoes
and cheese for those
sandwich lovers.
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Dessert
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| Poppy Seed Rolls |
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| Polish Nut Rolls See the December 23, 2012 post for the recipe. |
We started at six in the evening and ate and drank until ten o'clock. What
a wonderful way to end Christmas Day.