CHRISTMAS dinner is one of the most stressful meals to prepare, so a nice easy starter recipe can help take the pressure off the festive cook!

Salmon has become a traditional Christmas starter and here are a couple of our favourites.

Serve your fresh salmon simply with this Blini recipe – best enjoyed with a glass of good bubbly. You will need 70g buckwheat flour; 70g plain flour; ½ tsp baking powder; ½ tsp dried yeast; 175ml warmed milk; one egg yolk; one egg white and 125g butter.

First, sift the buckwheat flour, plain flour and baking powder together in a bowl. Whisk the dried yeast with the warmed milk, add the egg yolk, a knob of soft butter and whisk the mixture with the flour and baking powder to form a smooth batter. Then whisk the egg whites separately to stiff peaks and gently add them to the batter.

Next “clarify” the butter by melting it over a low heat in a small saucepan. Gently pour it out into a small bowl and throw away the white parts left behind to stop it from burning.

Finally, heat the clarified butter in a frying pan and drop in the batter a dessertspoon at a time. Cook until the batter bubbles, then flip over and let the other side fry until golden brown. Top them with smoked salmon and sour cream then serve.

This recipe for Cured Salmon with Cucumber Salad demands the freshest salmon and you should ask your fishmonger to remove all scales and pin bones.

You need 1.5 kg fresh salmon with the skin on; 2tsp black peppercorns; 2tsp fennel seeds; four juniper berries; 100g coarse sea salt; 75g caster sugar; zest of one lemon; 4 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill; and 6 tbsp vodka.

For the salad, you will need one fresh cucumber, cut in half lengthways; 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill; 2 tbsp caster sugar; 2 tbsp white wine vinegar; 2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds and 2 tbsp olive oil.

To prepare the salmon, roughly crush together the peppercorns, fennel seeds and juniper berries, ideally using a pestle and mortar. Then add salt, sugar, dill and lemon zest, and mix everything well.

On a baking tray, lay two large pieces of kitchen foil on top of each other, and scatter around a third of the salt mixture in the middle of the foil.

Cut the salmon fillet in half and lay one piece skin side down on the top of the salt mixture. Scatter it with another third of the salt mix and half of the vodka. Take the other salmon half, lay it skin side up on top and sprinkle with the remaining mixture and vodka.

Wrap it all up in foil and put a heavy chopping board or similar to weight it down and leave in the fridge for two days. Turn every 12 hours or so, and tip off any liquid.

For the salad, scoop the seeds out of the cucumber with a teaspoon and thinly slice it diagonally. Scatter it with 2tbsp salt and leave it in a colander to drain. Rinse the cucumber slices and dry with kitchen paper.

Whisk all the remaining ingredients together, pour over the cucumber and mix well.

Remember to scrape off as much salt as possible from the salmon before serving. Slice it thinly and serve with the salad and a little crème fraîche.

These fresh and original salmon starters should help get your Christmas dinner off to an exciting start so enjoy the meal and then start thinking about what to do with those left-overs!