I wonder if there is something you cannot add to herrings? I think only meat doesn't go with this fish. Herrings with onion, vegetables, herbs, spices – you can always add something tasty to make a great new dish. Last year herrings with cranberries were my culinary discovery. This year I think spicy herrings with pickled mushrooms will be my favourite herring dish. They are just the way I like them – a bit sweet, a bit spicy, a bit sour – in one word – yummy! I'm not the only one who likes them. The next time I have to make a lot more, because my daughter ate almost everything– she is a fan of herrings.

Ingredients:
4 pieces of herring in oil
chili pepper
1 small red onion
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
10-12 pickled mushrooms
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil

In Germany and Austria during Advent they serve small almond-vanilla cookies. They are crunchy and fragrant and they herald Christmas, and they are excellent not only for Advent. This year I abandoned the old recipe for crunchy cookies and made almond cookies without flour. They looked beautiful and tasted like a traditional Florentine, but I added a bit of sweet cream, and my cookies had a more creamy taste and smooth consistency. I didn't cover them with chocolate, so they are lighter and you can eat them without remorse.

Ingredients:
100g of almond flakes
100g of chopped almonds
70g of ground almonds
150g of dried cranberries
175g of sugar
75g of butter
150ml of 30% sweet cream

In Poland, depending on the region, on Christmas Eve people eat borscht or mushroom soup. Some families prepare both. There are also families which make excellent fish soup. My mum always made mushroom soup and served it with fettuccini. Sometimes she made fish soup with the leftover fish after preparing jellied carp. This gentle fish broth with carrot and small noodles was for the children who were hungry before Christmas Eve supper.

We love fish soup, so sometimes I prepare it in my kitchen. I like this awesome soup with many kinds of fish and seafood, so it isn't a cheap dish. But it is worth it.

I cook my soup in stages. Firstly, I slowly cook fish broth with lots of vegetables and seasoning. Then I spice up my soup with some tomatoes and pepper, and finally I add the fish, shrimps and octopus and boil on a low heat so as not to break up the fish pieces. There are many ingredients, but it is easy. Firstly I prepare all the ingredients beforehand, so I only need to add things, stir and spice it up. At the end I like to add a lot of coriander, but because my family doesn't like it, I usually use dill instead.

Ingredients (for 5 people)
800g of different kinds of fish
20 shrimps
2-3 cooked tentacles of an octopus
fish bouillon
leftover fish: heads, bodies with bones, fins, shrimp shells
2 carrots
2 parsley roots
a piece of celery root
a piece of leek
1 clove of garlic
1 big onion
3 bay leaves
4 allspices
6-8 peppers
2 twigs of rosemary

As well as the other excellent dishes which we prepare for Christmas Eve supper, I cannot imagine the Christmas table without meat in jelly. Every year either my daddy or I prepare pork foot jelly. I like a lot of meat in the jelly. I always boil pork foot to make a strong jelly and pork knee to have a lot of meat. I spice it traditionally with a lot of garlic and marjoram. I serve it with lemon juice or grated horseradish and fresh bread. Yummy!

Ingredients:
1 pork foot
2 small pork knees
1kg of carrot
0.5kg of parsley root
a piece of celery root
a piece of leek
half an onion
2 tablespoons of marjoram
2-3 cloves of garlic
3 peppers
2 allspices
1 bay leaves
salt and pepper

As every year before Christmas, I will prepare traditional herrings with onion, and herrings with cream sauce with apples and pickled cucumber. Also, just like every year I will try out a few new herring recipes. For a start, I recommend herring salad with red currants and cashew nuts. The fat fish is excellent with sour fresh fruit and the nuts are nice and crunchy. I add a bit of chilli pepper and a lot of parsley to spice up my salad. If you like, replace the parsley with coriander. Chill the salad before serving. It tastes much better than just after preparation.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
4 pieces of herring in oil
2 fistfuls of red currants
2 tablespoons of olive oil
a piece of chili pepper
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
half a small onion
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
a fistful of cashew nuts