Religion & Food: Lenten Food

By -
Simple vegetarian soups are traditional throughout Lent, and each nationality has developed its own Lenten specialty. Consider slurping any -- or all -- of the following for the next forty days:
  • Eastern Europe: Vegetable-based split soups.
  • France: Onion soup, of course! Call it Zuppa Magna di Cipolle and you can claim its Italian.
  • Greece: Tomato soup.
  • Italy: Brodo Magro di Digiuno is made with leeks, onions, carrots, cabbage, and lentils; flavored with sage and bay left. Strained, it's a rich broth for other soups or to use with rice or pasta. Pureed, it's a hearty soup.
  • Russia: Borscht (beet soup) with mushrooms or barley. Sauerkraut and mushroom soup. Cabbage, potato, carrot, and barley soup.
Eastern Orthodox Church adherents still observe strict fasting -- relative to what most Roman Rite Catholics do -- during Lent. In fact, they are required to fast twice a week most of the year anyway. Check out this site to see what rigorous fasting looks like. If you decide to go the complete vegetarian route for the next forty days, check out Mollie Katzen's The Moosewood Cookbook. Published over two decades ago, it's still one of the best resources for vegetarian recipes and especially wonderful soups.

Strange but true: The pretzel is the oldest, traditional, authentically Christian Lenten bread. Some food historians trace its origin back to Roman Christians of the fifth century. Others insist that monks in southern France, or maybe it was northern Italy, cooked this egg- and butter-free snack up in A.D. 610. The former called them bracellae, Latin for "little arms"; the latter called them pretiola, latin for "little reward.

In either account, the dough configuration represents arms folded in prayer and the three holes represent the Trinity. thus you may eat these with impunity, but not gluttony, throughout Lent ...

So where does "pretzel" come from? Germans, who called these breads bretzel ("little bread") ... Palatine Germans, who would become known as the Pennsylvania Dutch, imported pretzels to the United States in 1710.
The Catholic Home by Meredith Gould

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amaretti

By -
Image
I kicked off our Christmas cookie season by whipping up a batch of Amaretti. Absurdly simple, these are some of my favorites ... basically meringue cookies with ground almonds mixed in. They were made much easier by the fact that I found Almond Meal at the Central Market so I didn't have to grind the almonds in the food processor. I also saw Pecan Meal and Hazelnut Meal there and am now wondering how those would work in variations. I'm not usually fond of meringues but love these so they had to go into the freezer ASAP otherwise we wouldn't have had many left. This recipe came from my mother and I'm not sure what cookbook it came from. However, it is not too different from other such recipes I've seen ... except it is a great deal simpler than some. Step 1: 2 large egg whites 2/3 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon almond extract Beat egg whites until foamy, gradually beat in sugar and almond extract. Continue beating for several minutes until whites form very stiff, sh
Read more

Spicy Tuna Fish Cakes

By -
These are from Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking and they will completely revolutionize the image that springs into your head when someone says "fish cake." They are fresh, lively, and absolutely delicious. Notes: we made this with tuna canned in water and they seemed rather dry. Later I realized that tuna packed in oil is much more common and would be a better choice both for moisture and (possibly) to help hold them together better. We couldn't find the kaffir lime leaves and, behold, the dish was delicious without them! Spicy Tuna Fish Cakes 1 pound good-quality tinned tuna (we used four 6-ounce cans) 6 tinned water chestnuts, drained and finely sliced 3 green onions, trimmed and sliced 1" piece of ginger, peeled and grated 3 tablespoons chopped coriander 1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped 3 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped (rehydrated for 5 minutes in boiling water if dried) 2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce 2 eggs, beaten Vegetable oil, for fryi
Read more

Curried Cream of Chicken Soup

By -
This is from The Silver Palate Cookbook. It is simple, delicious, and a touch out of the ordinary, both because of the curry flavor and the "cream" method which calls for half-and-half but is just as good with regular milk! Step 1: 6 tablespoons butter (I use 2 tablespoons) 2 cups minced onions 2 carrots, peeled and chopped Cook over low heat, covered, until tender. Step 2: 2 tablespoons curry powder 5 cups chicken stock 6 parsley sprigs 1 chicken, quartered ½ cup rice Salt and pepper to taste Add all. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer until chicken is done. Cool chicken in stock. Remove meat from bones and dice it. Step 3: 1 cup half and half (I use milk, either whole or 2%, depending on what I've got around) 10 ounces frozen peas, defrosted Remove fat from broth. Strain soup through strainer. Put solids and 1 cup stock in food processor and puree. Return to pot and add milk. Stir in reserved stock until
Read more