Tag: Lent

What do you eat during Lent? – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

La Cucina Italiana


What do you eat during Lent? The Catholic religion gives precise prescriptions: for those who practice and believe, it should be a period of restrictions. Forty days of “penance” to be observed to “purify” oneself before Easter, the resurrection of Christ.

What do you eat during Lent

In the common imagination, Lent is a period of total abstention from meat, but also from alcohol, sweets and all fatty and opulent foods. Until the beginning of the 20th century, in fact, it was more or less like this: ecclesiastical rules, among other things, expressly required one to also deprive oneself of eggs and dairy products. Now they are less restrictive. The fourth of the five general precepts of the Church on the subject is clear. Read: «On days established by the Church, abstain from eating meat and observe fasting.

What are the days of Lent when you don’t eat meat

Therefore, first of all, meat is prohibited only on established days: this is the Ash Wednesdaywhich is the day immediately after Carnival, and of Good Friday, in which Christians commemorate the passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. As for the Holy Saturday, abstention and fasting are only “recommended”. Among the observant, there are those who interpret the rule in a broader sense: during Lent he avoids meat every Friday and deprives himself of particularly expensive foods and alcohol.

What is Lenten fasting

The fasting rule should not be understood in a literal sense either. The church prescribes having only one meal during the day, the midday meal, but does not prevent you from eating something to fill your stomach in the morning and in the evening. Everyone should do it: from the age of 14 you start with abstinence from meat, from 18 to 60 you also continue with fasting. Barring exceptions, for example for health reasons. It’s all written down, on the Code of Canon Law and on the apostolic constitution “Paenitemini” of Pope Paul VI of 1966 (which also marked a small revolution by widening the range of “allowed” foods): rules and precepts for spending the most important period of the year in the most spiritual way possible, symbolically reliving the days that Jesus spent in the desert in abstinence from temptation. Days which, however, as Pope Francis has repeatedly recalled, cannot ignore prayer, almsgiving and good works.

Why you don’t eat meat during Lent (but you do eat fish)

On lean days the rule is therefore that of “carnem-levare”, eliminate the meatan expression from which the term derives not by chance carnival, the period of excesses. Hence the common custom of eat fish. Why not meat and yes fish? The explanations may be different: the assonance between meat and Jesus on the cross, but also the fact that meat – especially red meat – has always been considered an opulent food, therefore not very suitable for a moment of reflection such as Lenten. In its Summa Theologiae Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote that red meat gives more pleasure, therefore eliminating it would be a demonstration of greater sacrifice. Pleasure that would also derive from white meat, such as chicken, which is excluded from the permitted foods because it is a warm-blooded animal, unlike fish. Not convincing you? Faith is also this: you believe it or not.

Lent recipes

The Catholic precept has guided the culinary tradition as always: starting from the rule of lean fish, each Italian town, city and region has developed its own recipes in which it is the protagonist. Recipes which, however, in reality, are not always so punitive, but on the contrary. There polenta and herring from the Treviso area was created to be eaten during Lent. It is also Lenten Ligurian lean capon, which in truth is not that lean given that it is made with toasted bread, vegetables, fish interspersed with sauces also made with eggs. It deserves a separate chapter salted cod: poor and very tasty fish, which for Lent is made in many different ways: Vicenza style, cappuccina style (in Friuli), in sauce or fried in Naples.

The list of first courses is also long, although not always with fish: always in Naples they make the scammaro omelette, with a tomato and olive sauce for spaghetti. Spaghetti that Pellegrino Artusi recommended seasoning for Lent with simple ingredients following the rule of the Lenten period, that is nuts, sugar, spices and breadcrumbs. Perhaps an ancestor of Umbrian sweet macaroni, or perhaps not, but still an inviting variation. After all, desserts were also created specifically for Lent: Lenten desserts, for starters, which – like the previous dishes – are not exactly that privative. In short, apparently even in Lent we have allowed ourselves some sins. At least in the throat.

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Ash Wednesday and Lent: what to eat – Italian Cuisine

181829


After small talk and pancakes, after the excesses of Carnival, with Ash Wednesday begins Lent, a time of frugality lasts until Easter. Tradition has it that Ash Wednesday does fasts altogether, but softer and more modern interpretations predict that meat should not be eaten and excesses avoided.

In this period, dishes based on vegetables, fish and cereals are rediscovered. Sober but appetizing. The idea would be to limit the sins of gluttony a little, but the Italian tradition also in Lent has many recipes that inspire something else.

181829Sovereign vegetables

Seasonal vegetables are the great protagonists of Lent. So yes to pies, omelettes and savory pies where asparagus, spring onions, spinach dominate and when spring is late, beans and peas are added. The classics are also typical of the period lean ravioli.

Breads and buns

Even to those who in ancient times observed the strict fast on the most severe days of Lent, bread was granted. Hence the tradition of preparing stuffed trousers of vegetables, stuffed breads and spiced buns.

Fish dishes

During Lent the meat is avoided and the fish. So go ahead for fish soups, stuffed squid, sea bream, anchovies and so on.

181841A traditional dish to try is certainly the Ligurian buridda, which literally means "mixture of fish". The recipe uses shrimp, cuttlefish and squid, combined with mushrooms, dried fruit and salted anchovies.

Time for eggs

Even before Easter, eggs are present throughout Lent. In the rural tradition there was never a shortage at home: they were kept in a basket, ready for the ritual blessing, or to offer them during the Lenten quests. Certainly they are the protagonists of many recipes and, as a symbol of rebirth and wish for prosperity, they prepare for spring.

by Barbara Roncarolo
February 2020

The recipes of Lent – Italian Cuisine – Italian Cuisine

The recipes of Lent - Italian Cuisine


When the poor cooking was even poorer: from polenta with Venetian herring to pasta with Sicilian sardines, all the jewels of the "skinny" kitchen.

After the last glories of the Carnival, for some days now we have been immersed in the Lent. Time of renunciation and penance, according to the precepts of religion Christian Catholic, especially the Friday, day of abstinence from meat consumption. That is what has always been considered as food luxurious for excellence. But the precept, today, must be extended to all the fat and "rich" foods par excellence. It is difficult to think of doing penance by eating caviar and lobster. The same Episcopal Conference remarked in 1994, which invited the faithful to moderate themselves in the expenses in food goods, in the smoke and in the alcohol, in the expenses destined to the popular festivities (and above all to the religious ones), in the frenetic work that does not leave time to reflect and pray, in the excessive consumption of television and other means of communication that can create dependency and hinder or even prevent personal reflection and dialogue in the family.

Curious battles

Provisions on which, at one time, there was no joking. During the reign of Charlemagne the transgression was punished with the death penalty, and often the sale of meat on Friday was even forbidden. Throughout Christianity, the Lenten period inspired the "skinny cuisine", which included poor vegetables and fish. It was already spoken of in the thirteenth century in a curious French poem, La bataille de Caresme et de Charnage (The battle of Lent and Carnival), surreal battle over the clash between the armies of fish and those of meat. A singular parody, perhaps of the luxury of the "lords", or perhaps of the knightly honor code of the time. In which the personification of Lent rides a "mulet" (mullet, but also mule), against the Carnival riding a big wild deer with powerful horns. The army of the cavalier Quaresima is formed by hake, flounder, mackerel and eel, which clash with roasted capons, beef and pork sausages. Curiously, vegetables serve on both sides, depending on how they are seasoned: raw peas or oil on one side, peas with lard on the other. A nice comparison, immortalized even in 1559 by the Dutch painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, in its Fight between Carnival and Lent. Carnival is a stocky man with a large belly, sitting astride a barrel and goes to battle with a spit on which stands a pig's head. In front of him, Lent, gaunt, dressed in a poor habit. It has a hive on its head, reminiscent of the honey of fasting days, and wields a long shovel that holds two herrings.

A sad Wednesday (but not too much)

But, separate representations, what are the "lean" foods of the Italian gastronomic tradition? stand out bread, polenta, soups or vegetable soups, tortelli stuffed with herbs, fresh or preserved fish. The humble was the true "companion" of the poor people herring: dry and dry, but strong in flavor and inexpensive. A particularly strong custom a Motta di Livenza (Treviso): the town, in 1499, was attacked by the Turks coming from the Balkan peninsula. Who hoped to have an easy life, given that the population was distracted by the revelry of the Carnival. However the inhabitants noticed the danger and the attack was rejected: but the next day, implacable, comes the Ash Wednesday and i festivity for the victory they had to be celebrated … with blows of polenta and herring. And the "mercore grot"(Sad Wednesday), today the occasion for an unmissable" sagra dea renga "(herring festival). In Treviso the dried or salted herring came from the North Sea via Venice, then spreading inland. The poorest families hung it with a string on a kitchen beam and contented themselves with seasoning a slice of polenta by rubbing it repeatedly on the fish. The "polenta and renga"Veneto is getting ready dissalando herring, putting it on embers and then removing the head and the bones. Put the fillets on a plate, and cover with oil, garlic and bay leaves: this way, herring can be kept for several weeks, as well as used to dress polenta. Alternatively, herring can also be boiled for a minute and sautéed in a pan before being put in oil. Not only: the poor "renga" is also excellent with bigoli, so much that it could appear "sinful" …

Capuchin cod

Remaining in the North-East, another famous symbol of Lent is the famous one bacalà alla vicentina (actually based on stockfish). While, in Friuli, to dominate is the capuchin cod, this is based on cod. Which, once soaked, is cut into pieces, floured and placed in a pan. Where will be seasoned with a fried onion and then bay leaves, pilchards, pine nuts, raisins, lemon peel, salt and pepper, over – sometimes – with sugar and cinnamon. And above all, by no means sinful cocoa grated bitter: one of the few cases in which, in our kitchen, this ingredient is used in savory dishes. The cod, in this way, is cooked over a low heat, with the occasional addition of vegetable broth and wine; finally sprinkle with breadcrumbs and bake until it forms a light golden crust. He is also usually served with polenta.

The thin cappon

Typical of the Liguria is instead the Cappon Magro, complex and far from poor recipe: starting from a base of toasted bread (or better, the traditional sailor's biscuits) flavored with oil and vinegar, layers of vegetables and various types of fish (sea bass, sea bream, hake) overlap each other , croaker, capon fish, snapper, red bream, capon, scorpion fish, gurnard …), interspersed with layers of green sauce prepared with capers, pine nuts, anchovies, garlic, eggs, parsley, breadcrumbs, green olives and extra virgin olive oil. The Ligurian Lenten recipes also include the cod with potatoes and it stockfish in zimino, cooked with chard. Throughout Italy the appeal to the stockfish and cod, during Lent, it becomes more frequent. In Piedmont, instead, the typical Lenten dish is made up of great thin lasagna, in which instead of the ragu, a rustic sauce based on butter, oil, anchovies, parmesan and pepper appears.

Moderate sweets

A typical "lean" recipe Florentine consists of the rosemary bread, dessert prepared with flour, oil, rosemary, raisins and zibibbo. While in Rome to dominate is the maritozzo. Among the desserts, both in Liguria and in Tuscany are then widespread Lenten. Those Ligurianin particular, it seems to have been invented in a convent in Genoa by a group of nuns who wanted to encourage respect for abstinence from fat. They are made with almond paste, sugar, orange blossom water, egg white, flour, fennel seeds, packaged in the shape of small donuts and garnished with maraschino-flavored sugar, pistachio, lemon or coffee. The Lenten Tuscan instead, they are simpler, egg biscuits with sugar and cocoa powder in the shape of letters of the alphabet.

Heirs of the garum

In Naples, among the dishes of Lent we find the scamaro omelette, that is a condiment made from capers, pine nuts, anchovies and black olives, also used to season pasta. But equally widespread in the Center-South is the pasta with anchovy sauce, so similar – along with some Ligurian sauces and to the pilchard Calabrese – to that garum of which they were greedy i Romans. The step that separates it from the pasta with Sicilian sardines, after all, it is very short.

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