Lenten recipes

HOLY Week is upon us. For most Baguio residents, Holy Week is a time for visitors, guests and friends dropping in. Sometimes we might lose sight of the holiness of the week. Actually the Holy Week is the end of Lent, which culminates gloriously on Easter Sunday. The Ilocanos also call Easter Sunday, Pascua, like Christmas.

Lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday, is a 40-day period of recollection and repentance and 2 of the Commandments of the Catholic Church relate to the period of Lent.

The 2nd [of the commandments] is to fast and abstain on the days appointed and the 3rd [of the commandments] is to receive the Holy Eucharist during Easter time.

We, thus, concern ourselves with just the 2nd commandment, which is to abstain on the days appointed. Good Friday is one of the days appointed. A day of abstinence is a day on which we are not allowed the eating of meat.

While fish, lobster and other shellfish are not considered meat and thus can be consumed on days of abstinence in the Roman Catholic Church and most of the Christian sects, all baptized persons between 21 and 59 years old are obliged to observe the fast days and abstinence days of their church, unless they are excused or dispensed.

We should try to fast and to abstain in order that we may control the desires of the world and raise our minds more freely to God and lift ourselves to more spiritual and Godly matters.

Since that is the case, today feature some of our favorite fish and shellfish recipes. These dishes we can prepare for Good Friday. Both of these recipes come from the GOOD FOOD BOOK of the Good Shepherd Lay Affiliates Ladies. The cookbook is available at the Good Shepherd Convent in Baguio. Both taste wonderful and are not too heavy on the budget.

We are reprinting the recipes in full.

Homemade Sardines
By Sister Guadalupe Bautista, RSG.

Clean 1 kilo of manansi or tawilis. Cut off heads and tails of fish. Wash then drain. Sprinkle fish with salt and calamansi juice and set aside for 30 minutes to extract the fishy odor. Wash fish once and drain well.

Line a clay pot with 2 layers of banana leaves. Arrange fish neatly inside the pot. Add the following ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

• 1 large onion cut in rings

• 1 red pimiento, cut in strips

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil

• several slices of cucumber pickles

• salt to taste

• 6 whole black pepper

• 4 tablespoons mafran sauce or banana catsup chili sauce (optional, if you like it hot)

• water enough to cover fish

Cover the clay pot and cook over low heat until fish if very tender including the fish bones. (Nota bene. Or use a pressure cooker)

Then, we have a stir fried vegetables dish (again without meat) also by Sister Guadalupe Bautista, RGS.

Prepare all ingredients and cook just before serving when guests are seated.

• 1 cup fried whole cashew nuts (select large ones)

• 3 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil

• 1/4 kilo shrimps shelled and black vein removed

• several pieces dried cooked in water and sliced

• 1/2 kilo chicharo (peas in pod)

• 1 medium carrot sliced crosswise

• 1 cup apulid or water chestnuts sliced or

• 1 medium singkamas

• 1/2 kilo flowering pechay cut one inch (separate stalks from flowers)

• salt and pepper to taste

• 1 cup broth

• 1 or 2 tablespoons cornstarch dispersed in a little water

• 1 dozen quail eggs booked and shelled

Heat oil. Add shrimps, mushrooms, chicharo and carrots. Cook until chicharo and carrots are half cooked. Add stalks of pechay and the rest of the vegetables. Lastly add the flowers of the pechay. Pour in broth and continue cooking. Do not overcook. Season with salt and pepper. Thicken with cornstarch. Pour in serving dish and garnish with quail eggs and cashew nuts.

(Nota bene. The veggies are of your choice and the seasonings are of your choice, too, but just keep the proportions the same.)

May you have a most Holy Week.

Bon appétit!