By Linda Reeves - The Florida Catholic Palm Beach
POMPANO BEACH | What does a priest who studied culinary art, owned a catering company and entered Food Network’s Chopped, a television cooking show and competition, say about preparing meals during Lent when all are called to savor the simplicity of the season?
Father Edgardo "Gary" De Los Santos shares his go-to on a Lenten Friday night, a favorite dish he learned to make from his mother and grandmother called mung bean soup or guisadong mongo with malunggay. It is a simple dish to prepare but full of flavor.
“Simplicity is kept in meal preparation during Lent,” said Father Edgar (Gary) De Los Santos, parochial vicar at St. Ambrose Parish in Deerfield Beach who hails from Zamboanga City in the Philippine Islands.
“When I was younger, our family practiced the Lenten sacrifice through the observance of silence and in simplicity in food preparation, especially on Fridays of Lent and during Holy Week. Every Friday during Lent, you can expect me to prepare a simple meal.”
Lent began Feb. 14, 2024, Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting and abstinence from meat. The Lenten season includes seven Fridays, days of abstinence, leading up to Easter Sunday, March 31. That means that Catholics, ages 14 and older, are bound by Church law to refrain from eating meat on Fridays including Good Friday, also a day of fasting when one can consume only one full meal the entire day.
Why fasting and abstaining from beef, chicken, lamb and other warm-blooded animals on Friday? Refraining from food is a way to respect and honor Jesus who shed his blood and died on the cross for humanity on Good Friday.
“Lenten fasting is a significant practice, especially during Holy Week,” “It is a form of sacrifice and penance to strengthen our faith and spiritual growth,” Father De Los Santos said.
Along with meat, some people give up items they enjoy including chocolate, ice cream, alcohol or the like as a personal penance for Lent. No matter what one gives up for the Lord, one can still eat delicious, simple meals during Lent, even on Fridays.
Father De Los Santos’ go-to on a Friday night is a favorite dish he learned to make from his mother and grandmother called mung bean soup or guisadong mongo with malunggay. It is a simple dish to prepare but full of flavor.
Mung beans, a legume, is popular in Asian cuisine. The small bean resembling a green pea can be purchased in the international food section of many large grocery chains.
Father De Los Santos’ dish only calls for a few ingrediencies including garlic, spinach, tomato and onion. Shrimp is added at the end of cooking and some seasonings.
“This simple dish is served as a meal with white steamed rice. You can count on it. I always prepare this every Friday of Lent,” he said. “To make this dish more interesting, I enhanced it with dried anchovies.”
Even more simple is his stir fry vegetable dish. He uses carrots, peppers, baby corn and a little onion but says any vegetable can be used for a quick satisfying meal. He stir-fries the vegetables, adds some seasonings and serves the vegetables over rice.
Father Christopher Marino shares his simple-to-make, one-pot dish for Lenten Fridays: Pasta Piselli.
Father Christopher Marino, who grew up in Pembroke Pines, served as a fine dining food critic for the Miami Herald for three years. Now he serves as rector of St. Mary Cathedral, the mother church of the Archdiocese of Miami. He links his love of cooking and food to his Italian/Catholic family.
“My parents owned a fish market in Pembroke Pines, and both my brother Joseph and I worked there when we were younger,” he told the Florida Catholic.
He answered the call of God and was ordained to the priesthood in 1993, but had he not, he said, he probably would have worked in the food industry, in some aspect of the seafood business, following in the footsteps of his family.
“I like to cook,” he said. “I was always surrounded by food, and my mom and grandmother were always in the kitchen.”
He said fish was always part of his family’s Lenten fare, but his Catholic family believed in abstaining from meat every Friday of the year not just at Lent.
“My entire life, I have eaten fish on Fridays during Lent. Baked. Fried. It is fast and easy.”
The practice of abstaining from meat goes back to the first century, when Christians abstained from eating meat on Fridays to honor Jesus. Before Vatican II, Catholics were not allowed to eat meat on any Friday of the year.
Even though the rule has been relaxed, Catholics who do not give up meat are strongly encouraged on Fridays to do some form of penance, work of charity or exercises of devotion in honor of the Lord, who made the ultimate sacrifice for man.
“Lent is about good stewardship. It is a time to give to charity and the Church and [spend] less on oneself,” Father Marino said.
He noted that Lent is a good time to refrain from splurging and going out to lavish, expensive restaurants to eat, adding that one doesn’t have to spend a lot at the food market to put delicious meals on the table.
“You can buy two packages of pasta at Publix for $1.49. A pound of pasta will feed an entire family.”
The cooking priest, who serves as chaplain for the City of Miami Fire and Rescue, enjoys making dishes for his friends and guests. We asked him to share a dish for a simple Lenten meal that would be easy for a busy mom to prepare.
He said one favorite and simple-to-make, one-pot dish, is Pasta Piselli. It takes about 15 minutes to make and takes four ingrediencies: pasta, peas and onion. He sprinkles a little cheese on top to complete the dish.
“It’s delicious, inexpensive and simple to make,” he said. “I believe in using wisely and well the gifts we have been given.”
David Geisser, a chef, who works for the Swiss Guard at the Vatican, has published a 224-page cookbook for the season of Lent. The book contains recipes for everything from simple soups to salads and zesty curries.
The guidebook for meatless dishes also features scholar and speaker Scott Hahn’s reflections on the history of fasting and discussions on good practices to follow for a holy Lenten journey. The book, published by Sophia Institute Press, can be found at Amazon, eBay and Walmart.
Personally, I grew up in the South. My mother was Irish and a very thrifty shopper and creative cook who came up with clever meals to feed her six children and hard-working husband.
Every now and then, the meal planning, cooking and cleaning was too much for her, so the family loaded up in the car and headed to our church, where we joined other families at the parish fish fry. I recall the smell of fish frying in the air, and the sounds of families chatting and socializing.
Parishes everywhere have rolled out the fryers and lined up the cooks for the 2024 Lenten season, so if there is a dinnertime trauma at your house this Lent, head to a local parish. You will not only have a delicious meal but you will be giving to the church, and what better way to spend a Lenten evening.
LENTEN RECIPES
This simple-to-make, one-pot dish for Lenten Fridays is called Pasta Piselli.
Pasta Piselli
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of ditalini (a tube-shaped pasta that translates from Italian as “little thimble”) or any small pasta including elbows and little shells
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1/2 package frozen peas
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parmesan or Romano cheese
Directions: Cook the pasta in boiling water until tender. Sauté the onion in oil for five minutes or until golden. Defrost the peas and add to the onion. Add water just to cover peas. Keep stirring until done. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix the cooked pasta and pea mixture together and top with cheese.
Stir-fry vegetables over steamed white rice
Ingredients:
- 2-3 medium carrots
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 can of baby corn (drained)
- 2 medium onions
- 3 gloves of garlic
- 2-3 tablespoon oyster sauce or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
Directions: Slice all vegetables into bite sizes. Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil until fragrant. Add the rest of the vegetables and the baby corn. Stir for at least three minutes and add oyster sauce or soy sauce. Stir until cooked. Make sure vegetables are still crisp. To add more flavor, you can add butter (optional). Serve over steamed white rice. (You can add any other vegetables that you may like.)
Mung bean soup or guisadong mongo with malunggay, a simple-to-make Filipino dish for Fridays in Lent.
Mung bean soup
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups Mung Beans (look in international section of store or purchase at an Asian market or online)
- One tablespoon garlic
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 10 shrimp, peeled, deveined and cut into halves
- 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
- 2-3 cups water
- 1 fish bouillon cube
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions: Bring water to a boil. Add beans and simmer until soft (about 35 to 50 minutes.) Sauté garlic, onion, and tomato and add to cooked beans. Add bouillon cube and fish sauce.
