HCH photos/Anna Weaver

Hawaii Catholic Herald’s Shaina Caporoz and bishop’s office staffer Brendan Porick dish up food.

A meal without meat ...

... can be pretty delicious. The Hawaii Catholic Herald Lenten luncheon brings you recipes for purple soup and green squid

By Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald

While stuffing yourself for Lent may seem contradictory to the spirit of the season, the Hawaii Catholic Herald encourages diocesan staff to do that every year. We hosted our 10th annual Lenten Luncheon on Feb. 9 at the diocesan chancery building to sample meatless recipes Catholics can try on the Fridays of Lent.

This year we encouraged the cooks to prepare and bring dishes that featured ingredients that were locally grown. Here are their recipes that would beat out a fish burger any day.

SIDE DISHES

Eggplant Loaf

Contributed by Sister Helene Wood and made by Stacey Balanay

Office of Worship

3½ cups brown rice, cooked

½ cup carrots, diced

½ cup celery, diced

½ cup onion, diced

4 pieces whole, long eggplant, diced

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 tablespoons granulated garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a heated frying pan add oil, onion, celery, carrot and eggplant. Add garlic, pepper and salt. Cook the vegetables until they are soft. Add the mixture to the rice. Add ¼ cup of the shredded cheese to the rice mixture. Place in a glass casserole pan and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or microwave for 5 to 8 minutes until cooked through. Serves 4 to 6.

Molokai Sweet Potato Soup

Contributed by Anna Weaver

Hawaii Catholic Herald

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

4 stalks (with multiple stems on a stalk) green onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 big Molokai or Okinawan sweet potato (or two medium sized), peeled and diced into small pieces

2 cups vegetable broth

1½ cups water, more or less depending on desired soup thickness

½ cup white wine (optional), more or less according to desire

¼ cup unsweetened Thai coconut milk

Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Optional chopped cilantro leaves to garnish

Melt butter in a saucepan along with olive oil. Brown green onions and garlic over low heat until soft and almost golden. Add the potatoes, broth, water and salt and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Add coconut milk and take off heat. Puree with hand blender or pour into larger blender and blend until smooth. Adjust seasoning to taste, and add black pepper and cilantro leaves. Serve hot or chilled. Makes four appetizer-sized portions

Thai Fish Cake

Contributed by Cindy Comilang

Diocesan Business Office

Fish Patties

1 pound fish paste

1 egg, lightly beaten

10 long beans, thinly sliced

1 shallot

1 green onion

½ or 1 whole red pepper, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

Dash of salt

Dash black pepper

In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients above to form a smooth fish paste. Make sure the red curry paste is well blended with the rest of the ingredients. Heat up oil in a frying pan. Use a regular-sized spoon to pick up the fish cake paste in ping pong-shaped balls. Drop the fish patties into the cooking oil and fry till golden brown. Use your spoon to flatten each ball into a patty. You can serve the patties with cucumber, tomatoes and basil on the side. Serve the fish cakes hot with Thai sweet chili sauce or a Cucumber Dipping Sauce (below). Makes 4 to 5 appetizer-sized portions.

Cucumber Dipping Sauce

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

½ cucumber (thinly sliced)

½ red chili

1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

½ a lime, chopped

1 tablespoon peanuts, roasted and finely chopped

Mix all ingredients except peanuts together and then top off with chopped nuts. Serve with fish patties.

“Healthier” Layered Dip

Contributed by Joy Bulosan

Bishop’s Office

1 can (15-17 ounces) fat-free refried beans

1 8-ounce container avocado dip

1 8-ounce container fat-free sour cream

1 medium-sized bottle salsa

1 4½-ounce can chopped olives

1 cup fat-free shredded cheese

Layer ingredients as listed above in pan. Refrigerate overnight. Eat with tortilla chips.

MAIN DISHES

All Pau Squid Luau

Contributed by Shaina Caporoz

Hawaii Catholic Herald

2 pounds calamari (squid)

3 cups coconut milk

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon Hawaiian Salt

3 pounds taro or luau leaves

½ teaspoon baking soda

5 tablespoon butter

Clean the calamari and cut into small rings. Optional: soak in beer to tenderize. Set aside. Wash luau leaves and remove stems and thick veins. Cook leaves in boiling water until tender. In another pot, boil 3 cups of water with the Hawaiian salt and baking soda. Add the squid to the boiling water and reduce heat. Simmer, partially covered for an hour. Drain the squid liquid. Add the coconut milk, cooked luau leaves, salt and sugar. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Frittata

Contributed by Sharon Chiarucci

Office for Parish Resources

A great way to use up leftover vegetables. This is basically a baked omelet. Ingredients below can be varied according to taste and/or what you find at your farmers market. Artichoke hearts, asparagus and Swiss chard are some alternative vegetables.

1 dozen eggs, scrambled

1 small onion, diced

1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced

½ pound mushrooms

1 bunch spinach, stemmed

1 small zucchini, sliced into rounds

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 medium Yukon gold potato

½ cup grated parmesan

a pinch of Italian seasonings

fresh basic, chopped (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 by 13 pan. Sautee vegetables separately and place in a large bowl. Boil potato until knife-tender. Scramble eggs with parmesan cheese, Italian seasonings, basil and salt and pepper. Slice potato and line bottom of pan with slices. Add egg mixture to vegetables and pour into prepared pan. Lift up potato slices to let a little egg mixture run underneath. Bake for about 30 minutes. May be served hot or at room temperature.

Really Steamy Mullet

Contributed by Donna Aquino

Hawaii Catholic Herald

This mullet was caught in Kaneohe Bay. However any other fish can be substituted. Please note that mullet refers to the delicious fish not the hairdo.

1 mullet, scaled and cleaned.

1 2-inch piece ginger, thinly sliced

1 bunch choy sum, cut in pieces

¼ onion, thinly sliced

½ package bean sprouts

3 shiitake mushrooms, sliced

4 water chestnuts, sliced

¼ cup black bean garlic sauce

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 stalk green onion, cut in pieces

1 bunch cilantro, cut in pieces

Cut a few slits on the outside of the mullet belly. Fill it with ginger slices. Mix together black bean garlic sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil together in a bowl. Rub the mixture all over the inside and outside of the fish. Lay fish in pan and fill the stomach with choy sum, onion, bean sprouts, shiitake mushrooms and water chestnuts. Steam for 20 minutes. Add green onion and cilantro before serving.

Diamond in the Rough Pizza

Contributed by Anna Weaver

Hawaii Catholic Herald

While you can make your own pizza crust, this recipe used store-bought crusts for two pizzas. Toppings are left up to your creativity. One pizza we served was topped with Okinawan spinach (purple leaves for Lent) and garlic, and the other used onions, bell peppers, corn and mushrooms from the Kapiolani Community College farmers market near Diamond Head (hence the recipe name). Both pizzas used the sauce recipe found below, including tomatoes, basil, oregano and rosemary from the farmers market.

13-15-ounce can of diced tomatoes, or 13 ounces of fresh tomatoes with some pulp removed

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or ½ tablespoon dried basil

1½ tablespoons fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon fine granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon dried red chili flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

For the pizza sauce, put the tomatoes, garlic, oil, basil, sugar, chili flakes, and salt and pepper in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes until thickened. Taste and adjust the seasoning before transferring to a bowl to cool. Makes enough sauce for two medium pizzas. Once sauce is cooled, spread it on your homemade or store-bought pizza crust and top with whatever you like. Add mozzarella cheese and bake in oven at 450 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes depending on how crispy you want the crust.

DESSERTS

Eggplant Pudding Cake

Contributed by Sister Helene Wood and adapted from “Best Kept Kitchen Secrets”

Office of Worship

1 package (18.25 ounces) yellow cake mix (not a pudding cake mix)

1 package (4-serving size) vanilla flavor instant pudding

2 cups (about 1 pound) eggplant, peeled and grated

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a bundt pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Blend together and then beat at medium speed with an electric mixer for 4 minutes. Pour into the bundt pan. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick poked in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 15 minutes. Then remove from pan and finish cooling on a rack. Dust with powdered sugar.

Fruit Cocktail Salad

Contributed by Margie Sison

Diocesan Business Office

3 large cans of fruit cocktail

2 green apples

1 can condensed milk

1 8-ounce package cream cheese

Drain the fruit cocktail in a strainer. Cut the apples in bite-sized pieces. Mix all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Refrigerate for an hour or two and serve cold.