Vegan Moussaka

 

Looking for a vegan meal for Saturday of Lazarus or Palm Sunday?  This is definitely "Company Worthy."   I posted a recipe for OCN of a Vegan Moussaka and it's delicious!

 

 

 

 



 

For more detailed info on the "Cream" Sauce...

 

“Cream” Sauce:

Boil 5c water in a large saucepan and remove from heat.  Stir in 3/4c instant potato flakes until dissolved and set aside.

 

 

 

Heat ½ c oil in medium saucepan.  Stir in ¾ c flour and cook while stirring until it turns a golden color. 

 

 

Lower heat and slowly stir in potato water, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.  Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.  

 

 

 

Greek Fries Are a Great Treat.

 

One tip for a successful fast is to save some foods for a treat.  Ours are fried foods.  We save fried foods for the weekend: fried zucchini, loukoumathes, shrimp... Today's lunch was Greek Fries.

 

• Using a potato cutter, cut 4 potatoes, rinse them in cool water and place them in a large bowl.
• Dust 2T of flour over the damp potatoes
• Season with garlic powder, dried parsley and dried oregano.  But be warned, this late in lent, they smell like souvlaki! 

 

 

• Heat oil to HOT

• Fry the spuds

 

 

 

• Drain on a paper towel, or coffee filter
• Salt and serve

Feasting and Fasting, the Orthodox Way. Celebrating Palm Sunday with Fish Plaki

We are about to begin our 6th and final week of Lent and then brace for Holy Week and all I can reflect on is how amazing Lent and fasting are. Where else can we fast and feast on the same day? It sound’s impossible, I know! But you can do it with a Greek Fish Plaki.

 

If we’ve been participating in the fast, we are aware that the Orthodox faith instructs fasting by certain levels: first meat (pork, beef and chicken,) then dairy (milk, cheese, butter) and eggs, then fish (but not shellfish as in shrimp and calamari), then wine (all alcohol) and oil and then all food. (My sweet son, who is learning to fast, read this and shouted out, “All food!?! That’s impossible!”)

 

If we have a Spiritual Father to guide us, he has assigned us a certain level of fasting. Knowing our personal experiences in fasting and health issues he might advise a personal fasting rule based on the levels we follow. For example, if we’ve never fasted a day in our life, he might advise us to refrain from meat Wednesdays and Fridays; Wednesday to remember the day Christ was betrayed and Friday for the day He was crucified. Or, he may want us to fast from meat every day and increase our level by instructing us to refrain from dairy or egg products on Wednesdays and Fridays. If we fast from meat, dairy and eggs on Wednesdays and Fridays all year long, he may guide us to keep fasting from meat, dairy and egg products all during Lent and to fast from fish on Wednesdays and Fridays.

 

Yet, do not confuse the “personalization” of fasting to mean that we get to fast from what we chose, like “giving up” chocolate or soft drinks for Lent. A spiritual father’s instruction is one of clemency; the church calls it “economia.” It would be better to fast to our limited ability than to fail in fasting, so a spiritual father can offer us a stepping stone till we can participate in the full fast. Why is this important to clarify?

 

Orthodox Christians fast on various levels. Ideally though, we are fasting for six weeks (seven if you include Holy Week) from meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine and oil. And we are observing a sober time where we reflect on our past actions, intentions and sins; it’s basically a time for repentance. So when a Great Feast Day falls during Lent, like it did with the Annunciation (March 25) and it will with Palm Sunday (this year it falls on April 28,) the Church sees the importance in celebrating the feast. Clergy dress in bright, colorful vestments (instead of purple,) we are encouraged to decorate the interior of the church and icons with flowers and palms, and we break the fast. Well, we don’t stop fasting, but the Church alleviates the fast by taking it down a notch.

 

On Palm Sunday we are “permitted” to eat fish to celebrate the holy day. If we’ve been fasting from meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine and oil for 6 weeks, you can see how fish for dinner is a great treat. If we haven’t been fasting at this level, I imagine we’ll miss the whole point. We might even wonder why we are fasting so strictly on a Feast Day.

 

What will you cook for Palm Sunday? Here is a recipe for a Fish Plaki with Potatoes. What's Plaki (plah-KEE)? It's a dish that is traditionally baked with olive oil, tomato, and vegetables.

 

Mom’s Fish Plaki

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Peel 5 potatoes and cut in ½’ discs. Place them in greased baking dish and bake for 30 minutes while you prepare the sauce.

Plaki Sauce

• Slice 2 onions and sauté in olive oil with
• 4 Celery stalks (chopped) and
• 3 garlic cloves

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the onions are translucent, add

• 3T chopped dill
• 2T chopped fresh mint
• 1c chopped parsley
• A splash of white wine
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 3T olive oil… (1/4 c if you’re Greek)

Let sauce simmer until potatoes are ready.

 

 

 

When potatoes are almost finished cooking, remove baking dish from oven, place 4 pieces of grouper over the potatoes and pour sauce over fish. You can use tilapia, whiting, or cod, but I favor grouper for this dish. Place slices of lemon rounds on top of fish. Bake for another 15 minutes until the fish is flaky. Serve.

Sauce should be thicker.  I didn't let it simmer enough. But it still tasted great!

 

 

(ONE IMPORTANT NOTE: Lent is a time we focus on Fasting, Prayer and Almsgiving. But since I write on Lenten recipes I focus on fasting for my blog, In Service and Love at www.presvassi.blogspot.com . During these 7 weeks, if we only focused on the food we ate or didn't eat, we haven’t engaged in a spiritual exercise but we have merely started a diet.)

Tuna Like Lamb, Yes, I Said "Tuna Like Lamb."

Tuna like Lamb is a great sauce you can make with potatoes, like I am featuring below, or to serve over rice or even pasta.  I've done all three and love it every time.

 

 

I start with a large pan I can also put in the oven.  You can use any pan and transfer to a baking dish.

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Sauté sliced onions (cut onion in half and then slice), chopped celery and 4 garlic cloves in olive oil, salt, and cook till transparent.

• Add
• 1c red or white wine,
• 1 can tomato sauce, 
• 2c vegetable broth,
• 1 large can of chunk white ALBACORE tuna,
• a dash of balsamic vinegar,
• 1 bay leaf,
• lemon juice,
• salt and pepper to taste. 

• Heat to a boil.

 

• Add 8 potatoes, cut in half and then in large chunks and bake covered for 40 min at 375 degrees  (You can use a smaller can of tuna, 1 c vegetable broth and 5 potatoes.)

Instead of potatoes, you can also simmer for 20 minutes and serve over pasta or rice.

Just sauce

 

 

Greek Potatoes in the Oven

 

I like Greek Potatoes in the Oven.  It's something we can all eat and pairs well with a side of hummus or steamed broccoli.  I served them with sauteed shrimp and mushrooms. 

• Peel and cut 5 potatoes in half  and then cut eat half into thirds. 
• Soak in water for a few minutes.
• Remove from water and dry on paper towel and return to a dry bowl. 
• Marinate with 1 T olive oil, Cavendar's seasoning and lemon juice.  If you don't have Cavendar's use dried oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.

 

• Heat oven to 400 degrees. 
• Put marinated potatoes in a baking pan and roast about 50 minutes, stirring a few times for even browning. 

Baked Vegetable Medley

 

This is one of those recipes that doesn't really need to be written out, except that otherwise you might forget to cook it.

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. 
• Slice your vegetables and layer over 1/2 can of diced tomatoes in a baking pan. 
•  I sliced 3 potatoes, 2 zucchini, 1 onion, 2 green onions and 2 carrots. 
• Drizzle each layer with oil. 
• On top layer use seasonings: 4 crushed garlic cloves, cumin, parsley, oregano, salt and  pepper.
• I finished dish with the remaining diced tomatoes but I wish I had added a can of tomato sauce and a tsp of sugar.  The dish needed a bit more flavor.   
• Add 1/4 c water and keep an eye on dish to add more if needed so it doesn't dry out.  

Sliced potatoes over diced tomatoes.

  

  

Layer vegetables and drizzle oil.

 

 

Lots of layers

Top with diced tomatoes or tomato sauce. 

  

 

Looks great!

 

 

 

Yum!