Lent 2021

Who else is making Lenten meals this year?

I’m leaning towards pescatarianism the whole 40 days of Catholic Lent this year. I happen to be half Greek, so I’ll continue past Western Easter with some Lenten meals until Orthodox Easter

Tonights arroz con calamares, made with Rotel tomatoes and arborio rice.

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Mmm! Looks great @Phoenikia! I can do Greek Lent, for sure…

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Not us - no religious faith in this house.

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It is typical whether you practice Roman Catholicism or not, one of our lunches includes:

Potaje de Bacalao ( wild cod fish, garbanzos (chickpeas) and spinach stew … Much more delicious than it sounds !

Torrijas (the Spanish medieval dessert of French toast): Key difference between the French and Spanish versions are:

We use Evoo (extra virgin olive oil, as we produce it) instead of butter like the French and we use Moscatel instead of Milk …

Amazingly fabulous !! The rest of the ingredients are the same as French Toast except the BREAD. The bread is a special bread ordered from one´s local bakery … It is NOT a white sandwich bread.

It is more like an egg - yellow thick braided bread, sliced. " Torrija Bread " …

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Sounds delicious - so must be fantastic then.

Does that use fresh cod or the salted version?

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I prefer wild Cod or Skrei verses farm raised or salted cod …

Another very delicious dish is Clams with Artichokes and White Navy or Northern Beans, which is very common in Asturias.

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Mussels were on sale this week so we had mussels marinara last night but it was because of the sale not Lent.

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This is a vegetarian Lenten soup served in German- speaking parts of Europe on the Thursday before Easter Sunday, which they call Green Thursday.

I didn’t know about this soup until this Swiss blogger posted a photo on Instagram today.

There was an episode of a US food show (Milk Street) on this - sounds delicious!

Sounds like challah, which is popular here for French toast.

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Yum! How do you keep the calamari from getting rubbery while the rice cooks?

Wiki entry in German* mentions some traditional regional foods eaten on Green Thursday.

Scroll down to “regional customs”

*goggle translate

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Saregama, as far as I know, the trick with calamari is to cook it quickly , or to cook it a long time. The Greek style of home cooked calamari and rice cooks it a long time (30 minutes or longer), so it becomes tender, but a different texture than tender grilled calamari. I also use small calamari, that aren’t too thick. If you can find calamari from Monterey CA, that works well. I’m having trouble finding CA calimari lately- the Cdn stores have been importing lesser, thkcker, bigger calamari from China and Thailand.

Frozen calamari works for this . https://www.google.com/amp/s/miakouppa.com/2019/03/14/calamari-and-rice/amp/

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Here was my Green Thursday soup, made with spinach, potato, garlic, basil, cilantro, parsley, green onions and yellow onion.

Making this tonight.

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Gosh, your link took me back many years, prima.

If I think back 20+ years, it seemed as though Loulla Astin was never off the local TV news. Anything about Greexe, Cyprus and any restaurant issue, up would pop Loulla. We went to the restaurant once back then. I drive past it quite often but have never thought about a return visit.

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I didn’t know anything about her or her recipes! Good to know!
Here is my pot of lentils (but I did add olive oil- I’m not Greek Orthodox and I’m not fasting in a serious way. We always have fish on Friday ).

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Making scallops for Clean Monday tonight. (I was formerly Prima)
Some Lenten recipes

https://www.heritageandhistory.com/contents1a/2010/04/carlin-peas-a-northern-tradition/

http://www.lynsted.com/Recipes/Cookbook/Figgy_Pudding_-_Palm_Sunday.html

https://cookpad.com/us/recipes/339117-catalan-palm-sundays-cookies

Good Friday dinner inspired by Joso’s Croatian Spaghettini alla Leonardo, with shrimp, octopus, white wine, onion,garlic, lemon, capers and parsley.

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Imitation crab enchiladas and unpictured sea bass for Ash Wed.

@moderators , would it be possible to remove the 2021 in the subject line so this is a general Lent thread? TIA :heart: