Lent recipes set Catholic families' tables for palatable lessons in faith

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (The Criterion) - The education of 5-year-old Charlie Egger is something to behold for a Catholic who grew up in a generation when Fridays in Lent were usually marked by meals of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, fish sticks from a woman named Mrs. Paul and fillet-of-fish sandwiches from the drive-in window of a fast-food restaurant.

Jenni Egger wants her son to be comfortable in the kitchen, even involving him in cooking creative alternatives to traditional meatless Friday dinners - which explains why Charlie helps his mother prepare a meal called "veggie filled frittata." Yet Egger also sees those Lenten Friday cooking sessions as a meaty way to teach Charlie about his Catholic faith. "Lent is an important time to have family conversations about why we don't eat meat on Friday or why we carry on any of our special Lenten traditions," said the 36-year-old member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish here. "Prep time or meal time is the perfect opportunity for those conversations. We will talk about Jesus and the sacrifices he made for us, and the things we can do during Lent." For Jenni and others in the archdiocese, the start of Lent provides food for thought, not only about food but about the importance of the Lenten season in the faith lives of people. Barbara Brinkman knows that she will have to answer the questions about meatless Fridays in Lent from her two sons - Robbie, 13, and Steven, 11. "They don't like fish. They just don't like fish," said Brinkman, a member of St. Luke Parish here. "It comes up every Lent. We look at the calendar and I point out Ash Wednesday and the number of Fridays in Lent. I tell them, 'These are the number of days we are sacrificing meat.' I tell them this is what the church chose for us to do in order to remember what sacrifices Jesus Christ made for us by giving up his life on Good Friday," she said. The message usually gets through as she serves her family meatless lasagna roll-ups. "I point out that what we do is such a small thing for what Jesus Christ did for us," said Brinkman, a senior advertising account executive for The Criterion, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. "They accept it." Meatless Fridays are "part of the three-pronged approach of prayer, penance and almsgiving" that Catholics are called to follow in Lent, according to William Bruns, a member of St. Barnabas Parish here, who makes a variety of less-traditional Lenten Friday meals, including shrimp salad and a fisherman's soup. "As far as the meaning of Lent goes, I look at it as our annual opportunity to recharge our spiritual lives and redirect our thoughts and energies to living as disciples of Jesus," Bruns said. "And discipleship, as the word implies, requires discipline." Bruns remembers when the church required Catholics to adhere to meatless Fridays year-round. "Interestingly enough, the church has never said to stop observing meatless Fridays. They are just not obligatory anymore," Bruns said. "In fact, the U.S. bishops have explicitly encouraged American Catholics to continue to observe Friday as a day of penance." He also encouraged Catholics to consider other forms of sacrifice during Lent. "Since we have only two days in the year - Ash Wednesday and Good Friday - that are obligatory days of fast and abstinence, it seems to me that maybe we ought to be choosing to fast from things that are really important to us, things that perhaps have become too important - television, movies, sports - or even the more traditional - candy, desserts, tobacco, alcohol," he said. "And while we're fasting, let's not forget the other two legs of the tripod - prayer and almsgiving/works of charity." Prayer is always part of the faith program for the Egger family, especially at meal time. "Sitting down with my family always helps my faith," said Egger, who has been married for 13 years to her husband, Howard. "It's where we regroup as a family and where we pray." Even trying new recipes for meatless Fridays draws her deeper into the meaning of Lent. "As I cook, I consciously think about the sacrifices Jesus made," she said. "Do I say something as I cut the asparagus? Probably not. But it is always in my thought process as I shop for special items for a meal." "Any time adults or kids give up something or adopt new behavior - that just keeps the whole preparation of Lent for Easter in our minds." - - - The following are several, less-traditional recipes for meatless Fridays in Lent: Shrimp Danielle (recipe from Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein)
Ingredients:
1 pound raw medium shrimp
6 tablespoons shrimp stock (see the recipe that follows) or clam juice
˝ cup butter
˝ cup chopped green onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
˝ pound sliced mushrooms
4 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
˝ teaspoon Worcestershire
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce, or more to taste
˝ teaspoon cayenne pepper
˝ teaspoon salt
Ľ teaspoon black pepper Ľ teaspoon dried basil
Ľ teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
Juice of half of a lemon
1 box of regular and wild rice blend mix, cooked according to directions
Directions:
Peel shrimp; remove the black intestinal vein from the back of shrimp and refrigerate shelled shrimp. Use the shells for shrimp stock.
Prepare shrimp stock, using the recipe below, and set aside. (This step can be done ahead and the stock frozen.)
To prepare dish, melt butter in large sauté pan.
Add onions and garlic; sauté 3 to 5 minutes, or until the onions are just short of browning.
Add mushrooms and parsley; sauté until mushrooms shrink, about 5 minutes.
Add 6 tablespoons shrimp stock, mustard, Worcestershire and hot pepper sauce to the pan.
Stir together cayenne, salt, pepper, basil, thyme and oregano. Stir into mixture.
Wrap a thin cloth around lemon half. Squeeze juice into pan. Stir to mix on lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
When rice is ready, add shrimp to pan. Turn heat to medium; cook until shrimp turn pink and are done, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve warm over rice.
Note: Do not let the shrimp cook too long. Add the shrimp when ready to serve. Shrimp stock for Shrimp Danielle recipe
Ingredients
1 large white onion, quartered
3 large carrots
3 ribs celery, halved
Shells and tails of 1 pound shrimp
3 quarts of water
Directions: Put onion, carrots, celery, shrimp shells and water in large pan; simmer 3 hours or more.
Strain broth; discard vegetables and shells.
Refrigerate broth for 2 to 3 days or divide portions and freeze. Veggie Filled Frittata (recipe from Jenni Egger)
"This is a versatile dish that is fun to make as a family," Egger said. "It is also a great way to get vegetables in the kids."
Ingredients and directions:
6 eggs beaten
1 cup half-and-half or milk
1 ˝ cups frozen shredded potatoes boiled for 3 minutes
ľ cup frozen spinach thawed and well-drained
10 medium-sized mushrooms, stems removed, sliced and sautéed in tablespoon butter
1 medium tomato chopped
ľ cup cheddar or your favorite cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Add half-and-half to the eggs and whisk well. Add the remainder of the ingredients and pour into a pie pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes, or until set. Serve as a pie with fresh fruit and bread. Lasagna Roll-ups (recipe from Barb Brinkman)
Ingredients:
8 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 cup ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 14-ounce jar spaghetti sauce or your own sauce
Directions:
Saute garlic in oil.
Mix spinach, cheeses and garlic in a large bowl.
Spoon mixture on noodles and roll up. Then line them up in a baking dish.
Spoon spaghetti sauce over the top and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. Fisherman's Soup (recipe from William Bruns)
"This soup, a salad and some crusty bread make a filling meal," Bruns says.
Ingredients:
Ľ cup olive oil
˝ cup celery, chopped
˝ cup carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
˝ cup dry white wine
4 cups of fish stock
1/3 cup rice
1 pound of white-fleshed or oily fish fillets, cubed
1 pound of mussels, scrubbed and debearded
Directions:
Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.
Add celery, carrots and onion, and cook until tender - about 5 minutes.
Add garlic, parsley, bay leaves, tomatoes, wine and fish stock. Simmer 15 minutes.
Add rice. Simmer 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add fish and mussels. Simmer 4 minutes or until rice is tender and mussels have opened.
Discard any that do not open.
Serve immediately with garlicky crouton.

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Republished by Catholic Online with permission of The Criterion, the official publication of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Ind. (www.criteriononline.com).