Lenten recipe ideas to fight the blues

[~Anastasia~]

no, I would have to ask her

It does sound good. Right now anything sounds good, lol, I'm hungry and I've just looked at the photos in this thread.

 

[Christina C]

If I may....Here is my Lenten Season recipe website

www.lenten-season.com

Thanks for the link - really useful!

 

[Jesus4Madrid]

'Hamburger in Tomato Sauce'

Variation on a quick, simple, inexpensive household favorite.
I purchased some vegan, 'hamburger' patties to sub in place of real hamburger patties I would typically use.

pre-heat the oven to 350.

In a skillet, start with a half tablespoon of coconut oil and caramelize half a yellow onion, thinly sliced, seasoned with salt/pepper and about a teaspoon of minced garlic.

Once the onions are softened and browning, add the thawed "hamburger" patties ( i used six for five of us).
Pour onto the hamburger/onions one can of tomato soup and a 12 oz can of italian seasoned crushed tomatoes.
Cover skillet and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

For the sides I made mashed potatoes (using vegetable broth and almond milk instead of milk/cream) and some sweet peas.

That looks really good.

My mom used to make "Sloppy Joes" when I was young. Your photo reminded me of that-I'm going to find a good vegan sloppy joe recipe.

 

[All4Christ]

Thanks for the link - really useful!

Glad to help! . Enjoy!

 

[Constantine the Sinner]

It's Lent, aren't the blues sort of the point? I vary my food a bit, of course, but I wouldn't want to do so too much, or else it would mitigate the mourning that Lent calls for.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I have flunked this Fast so bad....oh man. I'm such a loser this Lent!

 

[Jesus4Madrid]

It's Lent, aren't the blues sort of the point? I vary my food a bit, of course, but I wouldn't want to do so too much, or else it would mitigate the mourning that Lent calls for.

I get what you are saying, but I think rather than "blues", we might have a "bright sadness" as Father Alexander Schmemann called it. Lent is one of my favourite times of the year and I take the fasting seriously and do not voluntarily break the fast.

I want to have a good Orthodox Lent, but I also want to have a good Orthodox life, fasting on the three other great fasting periods as well as all year on Wednesdays and Fridays. And I want to do that for the rest of my life. I suspect I, or my kids, would get pretty burnt out if we just ate boiled potatoes or lentils during Lent. So I try to be a bit creative, especially on the weekends, when we feast a bit in remembrance of the Resurrection and take oil and wine. And I appreciate the Lenten recipe suggestions. Because I want to fast well, now and in the future.

 

[ArmyMatt]

It's Lent, aren't the blues sort of the point? I vary my food a bit, of course, but I wouldn't want to do so too much, or else it would mitigate the mourning that Lent calls for.

I get what you are saying, but I think there is a difference when we speak of the blues, and when we speak of repentance. not trying to split hairs here, just a thought.

 

[FenderTL5]

From 2016, Note - this is Tim's original recipe, I follow it in premise not to the letter. I used a large iron skillet.
photo is mine, from THIS morning (March 18, 2017). I served it with some bread and apple butter.

Tim Weeks shares his recipe for Honey Rosemary Potatoes. This is a traditional Irish recipe, which was featured in the March 16 Lenten meal on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day.

(Tim and my daughter 2016)
Rosemary and Honey Potatoes
Ingredients
4 Tbsp oil
1 lb potatoes, peeled & cubed
Coarse sea salt
Few sprigs of Rosemary
3 – 4 Tbsp honey

Method: Preheat oven to 425 F. Peel* and cube potatoes. Heat oil in a roasting pan until sizzling hot, then add the potatoes to the pan, turning them to thoroughly coat. Add a sprinkling of sea salt and several sprigs of Rosemary. Bake for 20 minutes or until partially cooked through, turning and basting them in the oil once or twice. Spoon honey over potatoes and stir until well coated. Cook for an additional 20 minutes, turning them over in the hot honey once or twice. Serve when “the potatoes are quite tender and a lovely brown color.” (Note: The last sentence must be read with an Irish brogue.) Serves 4.
* Tim doesn’t peel the potatoes Adapted from The Best of Irish Cooking by Alex Barker.

 

[~Anastasia~]

From 2016, Note - this is Tim's original recipe, I follow it in premise not to the letter. I used a large iron skillet.
photo is mine, from THIS morning (March 18, 2017). I served it with some bread and apple butter.

Tim Weeks shares his recipe for Honey Rosemary Potatoes. This is a traditional Irish recipe, which was featured in the March 16 Lenten meal on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day.
View attachment 191746
(Tim and my daughter 2016)
Rosemary and Honey Potatoes
Ingredients
4 Tbsp oil
1 lb potatoes, peeled & cubed
Coarse sea salt
Few sprigs of Rosemary
3 – 4 Tbsp honey

Method: Preheat oven to 425 F. Peel* and cube potatoes. Heat oil in a roasting pan until sizzling hot, then add the potatoes to the pan, turning them to thoroughly coat. Add a sprinkling of sea salt and several sprigs of Rosemary. Bake for 20 minutes or until partially cooked through, turning and basting them in the oil once or twice. Spoon honey over potatoes and stir until well coated. Cook for an additional 20 minutes, turning them over in the hot honey once or twice. Serve when “the potatoes are quite tender and a lovely brown color.” (Note: The last sentence must be read with an Irish brogue.) Serves 4.
* Tim doesn’t peel the potatoes Adapted from The Best of Irish Cooking by Alex Barker.

View attachment 191745

Saved this, must try! Thank you!

 

[FenderTL5]

Mushroom, Turnips and Greens.

INGREDIENTS
3 medium turnips
2 bunches of kale*
3 or 4 portabello mushrooms*
1 medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons of oil
balsamic vinegar (sprinkle)
season to taste

METHOD
NOTE: I use a large iron skillet and fire (gas)
cube the turnips, I make them chunky
dice onions
rough chop the mushrooms
remove the stems, tough part of the greens and tear into pieces.

heat the oil in the skillet, when hot add the turnips. Stir occasionally until they begin to caramelize/soften. add the onion and garlic stirring once or twice until the onions begin to soften - it's at this point I season everything.
Add mushrooms. Once the mushroom are in, you move quickly, give them a quick stir so that the ingredients are combined and the mushrooms are coated with the oil and will begin to break down.
Add the shredded greens (just pile them on top) and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and allow the greens to wilt into the dish.

They can be separated and served (as in the photo above) or just leave everything combined for a simpler, more rustic version.
* NOTE, in the more recent photo below I used collards instead of Kale and we had beech mushrooms instead of the portabellos.
Use what you have. During Lent I use avocado oil, we make this other times of the year and I use olive oil.
As with all of my cooking - I follow the premise not the letter.

 

[All4Christ]

Made this shrimp etoufee today....pretty good!

Shrimp Etoufee | Lenten Season

 

[Christina C]

View attachment 192122
Made this shrimp etoufee today....pretty good!

Shrimp Etoufee | Lenten Season

This looks tasty. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Christina C]

This is a lovely recipe that I found in a supermarket magazine (it was actually for prawn (shrimp) and cod, but works well leaving out the cod).:

Sri Lankan Prawn (shrimp) curry
1tbsp coconut oil
I diced echalion shallot (or a couple of normal shallots
2 diced garlic cloves
1 roughly chopped tomato
1 or 2 deseeded green chillis
Small handful dried curry leaves
1 small cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp mild chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
400ml can coconut milk
Prawns (shrimps) - recipe says 250g, but you may want more as the recipe also includes cod, which I've not included.
Juice of 1/2
Coriander leaves

Heat coconut oil. Add shallots, garlic, tomato, curry leaves, cinnamon stick, chilli powder, turmeric, salt and pepper and sauté for 5 minutes. Add 75ml water and simmer for another 5 minutes. Stir in the can of coconut milk (use less than a full can if you want a thicker sauce as otherwise this comes out quite runny) and simmer for 5 minutes more. Add the prawns (shrimps) and simmer gently for 4 - 5 minutes until cooked through. Season with the lime juice and add more salt if needed. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice.

 

[FenderTL5]

As follow-up, some recipes that are not 'Rice and Beans'

Shrimp and Grits (mentioned above)

I different take on the recipe I posted earlier.

grits were made using the same method as before, I used coconut milk to make them creamy.
I used Jamaican Jerk seasoning on the shrimp, so keeping with a Caribbean theme I made a mango salsa to top
it.

 

[FenderTL5]

From 2016, Note - this is Tim's original recipe, I follow it in premise not to the letter. I used a large iron skillet.
photo is mine, from THIS morning (March 18, 2017). I served it with some bread and apple butter.

Tim Weeks shares his recipe for Honey Rosemary Potatoes. This is a traditional Irish recipe, which was featured in the March 16 Lenten meal on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day.
View attachment 191746
(Tim and my daughter 2016)
Rosemary and Honey Potatoes
Ingredients
4 Tbsp oil
1 lb potatoes, peeled & cubed
Coarse sea salt
Few sprigs of Rosemary
3 – 4 Tbsp honey

Method: Preheat oven to 425 F. Peel* and cube potatoes. Heat oil in a roasting pan until sizzling hot, then add the potatoes to the pan, turning them to thoroughly coat. Add a sprinkling of sea salt and several sprigs of Rosemary. Bake for 20 minutes or until partially cooked through, turning and basting them in the oil once or twice. Spoon honey over potatoes and stir until well coated. Cook for an additional 20 minutes, turning them over in the hot honey once or twice. Serve when “the potatoes are quite tender and a lovely brown color.” (Note: The last sentence must be read with an Irish brogue.) Serves 4.
* Tim doesn’t peel the potatoes Adapted from The Best of Irish Cooking by Alex Barker.

View attachment 191745

Now that we've reached the home-stretch, the grind it out portion of Great Lent I thought I would post a variation and update on this earlier posting.
Basically, everything was done exactly the same as in the previous post EXCEPT; I added some onions, red pepper, and browned vegan chorizo sausage. We purchased the 'sausage' at Whole Foods.

 

[ArmyMatt]

that looks pretty durn tasty

 

[Jesus4Madrid]

This dish with octopus is a Lenten staple (from Mario Batali, who is the master of good food). Everybody who comes to our house and tries it loves it:
Ingredients

• 1 octopus 3 to 5 pounds, with sac, eyes and red skin removed
• 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 bunch fresh oregano, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 heads escarole
• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
  
  Preheat grill or barbecue.
  
  Place octopus in cold water with a cork and bring to a boil. Lower heat to low boil and cook 35 to 40 minutes until tender. Remove, rinse and cut into 4 pieces.
  
  In a mixing bowl, stir together olive oil, lemon zest and juice, red pepper, oregano and black pepper. Marinate octopus pieces for 10 minutes and place on a grill. Cook until crispy and slightly charred, about 5 minutes per side.
  
  When octopus goes on grill, clean escarole of flimsy outer leaves. Cut in half lengthwise and rinse well to remove grit. Place cut side down on grill and cook until lightly charred, about 3 to 4 minutes on one side. Turn and cook 2 more minutes and remove.
  
  Remove octopus and replace in marinade, cut into bite-sized pieces with scissors and pour over escarole, sprinkle with fresh mint and serve.