Here in the States people start Christmas celebrations just after Thanksgiving and some even put down their Christmas tree before New Year’s but for me it is a matter of tradition, culture and religion to celebrate my Orthodox Christmas January 7th. Normally back in Russia I would have a family dinner on Christmas day, but since January 6th was our 2 months wedding anniversary we decided to do Christmas Eve.
It was Thursday and just two of us, so I was thinking a quiet dinner at home with some home-made food. I didn’t want anything extravagant that requires hours and hours of cooking plus I didn’t want much of leftovers so my choice was simple: Russian salad, roast chicken and Christmas cake. Russian salad Dave likes a lot. Roast chicken I decided to go for because Dave doesn’t eat goose or duck (roast goose is traditional for Christmas in Russia) and we just had lots of turkey for the western Christmas. Cake is always a cake and is always a good treat.
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| Christmas table |
Morning January 6th II went and did my grocery shopping, watched the Divine Liturgy from Christ the Saviour’s in Moscow on Channel One Russia and started cooking. For table decorations I used matreshka (Russian doll) plates and napkin rings, red dinner napkins and red scented candles. My wonderful husband surprised me again and brought red roses and my favorite See’s candies. Everything I cooked worked out (that’s a simple recipes bonus) and we had a lovely and quite Christmas.
Below I am posting the recipes for roast chicken and Christmas cake.
Honey and mustard roast chicken with dried fruits and apples
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| Roast turkey |
- one whole chicken
- 4 tbs mustard
- 2 tbs honey
- 1 orange
- 200 g (7 oz) dried fruits (apricots, prunes)
- olive oil
- salt
- Wash chicken and remove anything that you don’t want to use.
- Preheat oven to 200 C (325 F).
- Mix mustard and honey. Season the chicken with the mixture and put the chicken in the pan.
- Slice apples (do not peel) and put inside the chicken together with dried fruits. If you have sme extra put them around the bird.
- Cut orange and squeeze it. Season the chicken with freshly squeezed orange juice. Put orange halves inside the chicken.
- Sprinkle the bird with some olive oil and salt.
- Put the bird into the oven and roast for about an hour and a half pouring with its natural juice.
- Serve hot with rice or mashed potato.
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| Christmas cake |
Ingredients
- 300 g (10.5 oz) butter
- 350 g (12 oz) brown sugar
- 350 g (12 oz) flour
- 5 eggs
- 200 g (7 oz) nut mix
- 300 g (10.5 oz) dried fruits and berries (to your taste, I used blueberries and cranberries)
- 1 shot vodka
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (325 F)
- Grease cake pan.
- Chop dried fruits and berries. Soak in vodka for some 15 min.
- Chop nuts.
- Mix brown sugar and butter, add eggs.
- Add nuts, dried berries, fruits, and vodka.
- Add flour and stir well.
- Put the mix in the pan.
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