ISO Lenten meal ideas
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Constance
Master Chef
I love fish and seafood so much, I could eat it every night in one form or another.
Can you eat shellfish, or is it off limits? Seafood pasta comes to mind.
There's also macaroni and cheese...you can add all sorts of exotic cheeses to a white sauce, add to cooked elbows, put in sprayed baking dish, and top with breadcrumbs, sliced tomatoes. Dot with butter before you put in the oven.
You could make some very tasty meatless pizzas. Just use your imagination for the toppings...I'm thinking caramelized onions, anchovies, black olives and fresh grated cheese of your choice.
Have you thought about portabella "burgers" with an oven-roasted or grilled tomato on top?
I have made a great chef's salad with albacore tuna as the star.
Hope I gave you some ideas!
PS...please tell me how you make perogies that are "so easy"!
Can you eat shellfish, or is it off limits? Seafood pasta comes to mind.
There's also macaroni and cheese...you can add all sorts of exotic cheeses to a white sauce, add to cooked elbows, put in sprayed baking dish, and top with breadcrumbs, sliced tomatoes. Dot with butter before you put in the oven.
You could make some very tasty meatless pizzas. Just use your imagination for the toppings...I'm thinking caramelized onions, anchovies, black olives and fresh grated cheese of your choice.
Have you thought about portabella "burgers" with an oven-roasted or grilled tomato on top?
I have made a great chef's salad with albacore tuna as the star.
Hope I gave you some ideas!
PS...please tell me how you make perogies that are "so easy"!
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ronjohn55
Head Chef
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2004
- Messages
- 2,080
We do a lot of pierogi for lent as well, but fish is usually what we end up having on Fridays. Although a trip to the Polish diner for the anti-atkins platter is always an option (Potato pierogi, potato pancakes, plus the little fruit filled crepe/blintz things that I can't spell right to save my life!)
We're big on mac and cheese as well, plus sushi and sashimi at a local Japanese place usually is a lenten staple for us.
Generally, I try to get through lent without having the same kind of fish twice (fried, grilled, blackened, etc.)
John
We're big on mac and cheese as well, plus sushi and sashimi at a local Japanese place usually is a lenten staple for us.
Generally, I try to get through lent without having the same kind of fish twice (fried, grilled, blackened, etc.)
John
MJK
Cook
Both my wife and I come from Polish families so pierogies and a Friday night fish fry are Lenten staples. A few years ago I had an Aha! moment when I realized that all the aunts who made the great pierogies were getting on in years and .....
So I decided to learn how to make the things from scratch myself. I rooted around and found an old Polish cookbook for a dough recipie. Pretty simple really and I have been practicing ever since. The recipe is as follows and I am not making this up:
Two cups of flour
Some water
1 egg
A little salt
Mix the water and egg into the flour until the dough is just right. Add a pinch of salt. (I omit this part) and let stand for five minutes. Roll out to the proper thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter. Stuff with filling. Pinch the edges and boil until done.
I am here to tell ya that the dough being just right was a bit tricky. But I persisted and know they are at least palatable. With enough fried onions and butter you can make just about anything taste good.
So I decided to learn how to make the things from scratch myself. I rooted around and found an old Polish cookbook for a dough recipie. Pretty simple really and I have been practicing ever since. The recipe is as follows and I am not making this up:
Two cups of flour
Some water
1 egg
A little salt
Mix the water and egg into the flour until the dough is just right. Add a pinch of salt. (I omit this part) and let stand for five minutes. Roll out to the proper thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter. Stuff with filling. Pinch the edges and boil until done.
I am here to tell ya that the dough being just right was a bit tricky. But I persisted and know they are at least palatable. With enough fried onions and butter you can make just about anything taste good.
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This is the perfect time to try a vegetarian lazagna, a mushroom risotto, a tomato basil based vegetable soup, or one of my old time faves, fish cakes with welsh rarebit (canned salmon or tuna, bread crumbs, egg, herbs, pepper or hot sauce, a little melted butter, blend gently and pan fry or oven bake in a mold in a water bath.)
buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
we go for sushi/sashimi almost every friday during lent, but also add other fish dishes like whole baked fish, cioppino/bouillabase/zuppa di pesce, mussels/clams/shrimp/crab fra diavolo, cod in saffron/tomato/roasted garlic broth, baked salmon in herb butter, grilled teryaki tilapia, grilled swordfish, crabcakes, and breaded fried flounder.
middie
Chef Extraordinaire
I don't celebrate lent. My family never has for some reason.
Anyway try a Veggie Spaghetti
Anyway try a Veggie Spaghetti
buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
oh, i forgot veggie pizza. my fave is eggplant, mushrooms, onions, and peppers atop thin crust pizza, light on the cheese, with a side order of extra hot mussels marinara. add some frank's hot sauce and a beer (as ronjohn cries in his lenten chocolate milk ), and it's dinnertime!
), and it's dinnertime!
Jikoni
Sous Chef
Fish mainly or legumes of some sort.My kids thought I should give up fish this lent season as I love fish 'too much' and I quote. they think this is a time for me to eat fish with 'permission' every week.Still when I said the alternative was beans or soup, they thought fish wasn't that bad afterall. Anyway I try and mix, one friday fish , next friday beans and other veggies.
auntdot
Head Chef
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2004
- Messages
- 2,418
Like middie, we have never celebrated lent. But it sounds like a fine time to try out some recipes.
Just some ideas, and I will include cheese and seafood here, please excuse me if they are not tolerated.
Falafel sandwiches.
Hummus.
Baba ganoush.
A hot and sour soup without veggie broth.
Sesame (peanut butter) noodles.
Any other veggie soup, such as pasta fagiola, maybe with a sandwich.
Lobster rolls.
Shrimp salad.
A frittata, with seafood and cheese, or not.
Omelets, including pizza omelets, served with fried taters and maybe some fruit.
Fried rice, with shrimp or tofu.
Egg foo yung (yes I know it is not Chinese, but it is tasty).
Stuffed mushrooms or clams or oysters.
Stuffed tomatoes, or peppers.
Just a few ideas.
When I was a kid a lot of my friends were Catholic and they hated Friday meals (that was during the time meat was outlawed on that day).
We, not of that religion, usually enjoyed eating the seafood, it was always fresh and readily avialable.
Could easily live without meat for quite a while, although I doubt I ever would.
I guess my point is there is a whole lot of other good stuff out there.
Just some ideas, and I will include cheese and seafood here, please excuse me if they are not tolerated.
Falafel sandwiches.
Hummus.
Baba ganoush.
A hot and sour soup without veggie broth.
Sesame (peanut butter) noodles.
Any other veggie soup, such as pasta fagiola, maybe with a sandwich.
Lobster rolls.
Shrimp salad.
A frittata, with seafood and cheese, or not.
Omelets, including pizza omelets, served with fried taters and maybe some fruit.
Fried rice, with shrimp or tofu.
Egg foo yung (yes I know it is not Chinese, but it is tasty).
Stuffed mushrooms or clams or oysters.
Stuffed tomatoes, or peppers.
Just a few ideas.
When I was a kid a lot of my friends were Catholic and they hated Friday meals (that was during the time meat was outlawed on that day).
We, not of that religion, usually enjoyed eating the seafood, it was always fresh and readily avialable.
Could easily live without meat for quite a while, although I doubt I ever would.
I guess my point is there is a whole lot of other good stuff out there.
Claire
Master Chef
We had good cause to hate Fridays during lent during my childhood. Can you imagine what fish was like when you were land-locked in the 60s? It quite literally stunk. Shellfish was virtually unavailable (not the nice frozen stuff we can get now). And those just awful tuna casseroles made with that gray, oily canned tuna (no while albacore in water). I was in my late 20s before hubby swept me off to Hawaii and I finally got up the nerve to make a serious attempt at seafood again. About the only thing I found edible as a kid -- and Mom was a great cook -- was fish sticks and french fries!
I don't observe lent any more, but I agree that if I could have sushi every Friday -- well, it would sort of defeat the purpose of lent!!
I'd go for vegetarian Mexican of all sorts -- hubby loves to have it, be it vegetarian chili, burritos, tostados, tacos (go California and make them fish tacos). Italian takes well to vegetarian -- pasta primavera, spagetti with a simple tomato sauce, lasagna, stuffed shells/manicotti. Most Asian cuisines have a strong vegetarian tradition. Curries.
All these things I make regularly anyway.
I don't observe lent any more, but I agree that if I could have sushi every Friday -- well, it would sort of defeat the purpose of lent!!
I'd go for vegetarian Mexican of all sorts -- hubby loves to have it, be it vegetarian chili, burritos, tostados, tacos (go California and make them fish tacos). Italian takes well to vegetarian -- pasta primavera, spagetti with a simple tomato sauce, lasagna, stuffed shells/manicotti. Most Asian cuisines have a strong vegetarian tradition. Curries.
All these things I make regularly anyway.
Crash
Cook
Rainbow Trout salted and held for a few hours. Deep fried and served with fried Pita bread and a Tahini, garlic and lemon sauce. In the glass is Arak, aka Ouzo.
How about...white bean soup with Kale... Good & easy!
2 cans of canneloni beans, drained
1c. chop'd fennel
3 leeks sliced
1 potato cubed
blk pepper
veggie broth
3 c Kale choped
14 slices baguette
gruyere cheese
Saute in oil: fennel,leeks. Add broth, potato, beans, pepper. Simmer until potato is done. smash potato & beans abit. Add kale cook another 15min.
Slice baguette top with gruyere, broil until bubbly. Serve atop soup.
After Lent, add italian sausage & chix broth.
Thanks for all the good ideas.
2 cans of canneloni beans, drained
1c. chop'd fennel
3 leeks sliced
1 potato cubed
blk pepper
veggie broth
3 c Kale choped
14 slices baguette
gruyere cheese
Saute in oil: fennel,leeks. Add broth, potato, beans, pepper. Simmer until potato is done. smash potato & beans abit. Add kale cook another 15min.
Slice baguette top with gruyere, broil until bubbly. Serve atop soup.
After Lent, add italian sausage & chix broth.
Thanks for all the good ideas.
Claire
Master Chef
Wisconsin cheese is the best!!! When the weather is better, we get in the truck and hit all the cheese factories. I'm upset that one of my favorites closed down (actually a northern IL cheese place). I particularly try to find places that make good, strong, aged cheese.
