Fish on a Hot day

It seems absurd to write that it is hard to be inspired by fasting foods on hot days, but it's just too hot for soups and pasta.  And who wants to heat the house with the oven.

When my grill master is too busy to grill, I like to make this rendition based on my mom's fish plaki for company. 

• Sauté the onions and add celery, mushrooms and 4 smashed garlic cloves. 

• When they are soft and translucent, pour 2 cups vegetable broth instead of tomato sauce.

• After it boils, pour in diluted cornstarch. I like to put 2 T of cornstarch into a small jar with 1/2 cup warm water.  I close the lid and shake vigorously.  Then I have a clump-free liquid to thicken my broth.

• Stir.  Simmer for 5 minutes. 

• Add fish and close lid.  Let steam for 5-10 minutes. 

• It's delicious, cooks on the stove, and reheats well. 

• Serve with pasta, rice, roasted potatoes... or a side salad.  It's yummy!

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

 

 

What's for Dinner? Week #2

I've been getting really excited about LENT coming and all that this season has to offer.  I love Lent.  It grounds me, redirects me. It puts me back in my place, in a way.  I find it a very beneficial time and I don't begrudge the restricted diet, added church services and call to increase what I give to others in need.  In fact, I welcome it.  It makes me feel like I am part of something bigger than myself.  Three hundred million Orthodox Christians all across the world and I are repenting (that means we are changing our ways) and fasting these days.  I am by no means alone in this effort.  And if all 300 milllion aren't actually fasting, I am pretty sure at least 100 million are and that's not bad company.

If you are interested in what fasting means and how it's structured I am sure you can find a good answer on http://orthodoxwiki.org  I'm not going to reinvent the wheel trying to explain this topic. So assuming you understnad the fasting guidelines I will continue.. this is after all a cooking blog of sorts. 

Last week a fellow blogger ADVENTURES OF AN ORTHODOX MOM shared a helpful menu planning system she found on another blog and I thought it looked like a good idea.   I followed her instructions and adapted it to my organizational abilities and voila!  Here it is! 

 

 

 

So, really quick, I will let you know that this week I am hoping and "planning" on preparing:

  

MON- Fish Plaki in honor of The Annunciation.

TUES- Pierogies with Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions

WED- Veggie Soup with Fresh Bread Rolls

THURS- Spinach and Rice with Salad

FRI- Potatoes Plaki and Boca Burgers

SAT- Lenten Dolmathes

 

I have a busy week planned and I may not post them all. I might actually post other dishes that I have been working on.  But I thought if I shared my plan with you, it might help you get started too.  My biggest motivator in planning is that I don't want to get in a food rut and break the fast because I am bored or unprepared.

 

Have a blessed fast and good strength for the "good fight."