Meat Free Good Friday

I was raised a good Catholic girl.  No really I was.  At least that’s what my mother likes to believe.  I married a good Catholic boy.  True story!  And now my son goes to a Catholic school.  Which has been really interesting because he has been learning about God and Jesus and he is very in to it. 

He is a little confused about why Jesus’ mates couldn’t save him from his fate but is happy that Peter tried so nobly.  I’m guessing that's the way little boys can relate to bible stories is by comparing their own life and friendships to it. 

The other day when I picked my boy up from school he was very keen to tell me that if he had of known Jesus when he was put up on the cross to die he would have gathered all of his men – his dad, his grandfathers, his uncles, our male neighbours and all of our male friends, big and small and together they would have got the ‘baddies’.  Then Jesus would have been ok…

So of course we don’t eat meat on Good Friday. 

No really we don’t.  Except for all the times we have had to travel to visit family at Easter and my husband sneaks something with bacon in it on the mandatory road trip stop along the way.  But that was only because he ‘forgot’ that it was Good Friday so it doesn’t count, right?

So anyway this Easter we don’t have to travel anywhere so I thought I would post an Easter recipe.  In my mind I was thinking something sweet involving chocolate or yeast goods or Nutella (Nutella only gets a mention here because I have a new and possibly unhealthy obsession with it). 

I contacted my dear and beautiful chef friend Janelle.  I’ve wanted to feature Janelle on this blog for a while and I will properly at a later date.  Janelle is an awesome chef.  She used to be my chef when I owned my café, another lifetime ago.  She uses words like gourmet, schezwan and chiffonade like no other person I know!  Now she teaches people how to cook and become a chef at a TAFE in Western Australia.  Those people don’t know how lucky they are.  They are learning from one of the best.

To my surprise Janelle sent me a recipe involving squid.  I was surprised for one because she doesn’t eat seafood and for two I was expecting something of the sweet variety from her.   When I questioned her about her choice of recipe and why it was special for Easter she said, ‘the whole thing is special. I thought as it is Easter good Catholics should be eating seafood on at least Friday’.  Touché Janelle…touché!

People, Catholic or not, this is just a small example of why Janelle is one of the most super chef’s I know in real life!

Squid Salad mixed with special sauce, lemon grass and lime leaves

What you need (quantities are per person):

250 gram cooked squid (2-4 pieces) poached

1 stick lemon grass sliced very thin

1 shallot julienne

2 lime leaf julienne

10 mint leaves

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon sweet chilli in soybean oil or sambal olek

What you do:

Place last three ingredients in bowl and mix. Place squid, lemon grass, shallot, lime leaf and mint leaves in that bowl and mix thoroughly. Serve with lettuce, tomato and cucumber.

Happy Easter one and all!