What if it were you Hanging up on this wall? If it were you in that sandwich you wouldn’t be laughing at all!“
Meat free days during Lent don’t have to be about the fish. You can eat macaroni, vegetables, beans, and many other mangialicious foods. No more just eating spaghetti, or tuna fish sandwiches or the never-ending tuna casseroles. In my Italian family growing up we ate so many meatless meals all the time. Lentils and Rice was one of my favorites. Yum. My mom made lentils so tasty (reminder to self to post that recipe :) ), macaroni and sauce, greens and beans, homemade pizza, macaroni and spinach, blintzes (yeah, I know), and many really delicious meatless meals.
These are some of the meals you can try on meat-free Fridays:
Macaroni and sauce - Remember when you make spaghetti sauce make a huge pot of it and separate the left overs into freezer containers so that you can just pull it out of the freezer.
Macaroni and Cheese – A little milk, a little butter and lots o’cheese!
Fettuccine Alfredo – Creamy, gooey, goodness. Make sure when you are making the béchamel for the sauce you add a hint of nutmeg!
Black Bean and Cheese Quesadillas – Top with sour cream and hot sauce to fancy it up, serve with some chips, maybe home-made guacamole and your all set.
Pizza – Who doesn’t like pizza. Well actually, we are very picky pizza eaters. Homemade is the best.
Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Tomato Soup – yes, always a classic. Brie and apple grilled cheese are delicious. Mmmm. . . pear and gouda with dried cherries. So many choices, so few Fridays.
Fish Fry – for when you don’t feel like cooking. I like to order ours and pick it up on the way home from work. Going out on Friday’s during Lent is like going to see Captain America on opening night.
Which brings us to Salmon. We love salmon. We eat it all year long. The only down fall right now is that you cannot get fresh water salmon here in the Western New York area. Only frozen if you want fresh water. So we are reduced to eating farm raised for now (something about mercury count).
“Wild-caught salmon achieves our "very low" mercury rating provided that they are caught in waters outside of Alaska or along the Pacific coast of the United States (offshore from California, Oregon, and Washington). Wild-caught Atlantic salmon achieves the next best rating of "low." We only recommend farmed salmon if they have been organically farmed. Even though we have not yet seen data on the mercury content of organically farmed salmon, we are confident that this type of salmon will achieve our "very low" mercury rating.”
The George Mateljan Foundation - http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=dailytip&dbid=116
Pan Fried Salmon
2 Salmon Filets (mine were about 6 ounces each)
Olive oil
Coarse Sea Salt
Pepper
Coat the Salmon in olive oil then rub the salt and pepper onto it. Heat up a medium sized skillet. I use a cast iron skillet for this. You can also use a stainless steel. If you use a non-stick it might not crisp up enough.
I put a little oil on the bottom of my pan, just enough to set the Salmon in. Then place the Salmon in the skillet, flesh side down. Leave it alone, don’t move it around for 6 minutes. Then flip the Salmon over and again, leave it alone for another 6 minutes. It comes out delicious and flakey every time. If you like you Salmon cooked to more of a “medium well”, I would suggest 8 minutes on each side.
I served this a top a bed of red lentils. You can find that recipe here if you would like. Red Lentils and Escarole. Or you can serve with rice or just a pile of greens. Your taste buds will ignite with this Mangialicious Salmon :)