Pasta Dishes for Lent

As I've stated over the years, I hate fish and Lent has always been a bit of a quandary for me to find something to eat.

There are several pasta dishes that can be served for Lent.  Not all of them are Italian but quite a few come from our fine Italian descents.

Cheese Ravioli is one, Stuffed Shells another.  These fine substitutes for fish on Fridays in Lent come from one basic recipe the Crepe Dough.  The dough for the Ravioli and the Gnocchi or Tortellini comes from the same recipe but is rolled out differently and stuffed with or without Ricotta Cheese before cooking in a Tomato Sauce.  For Stuffed Shells you start with a basic Crepe Recipe and then stuff them with Ricotta Cheese and roll the crepe around the Cheese before baking in a tomato sauce.

Tortellini can be used in many varieties but I prefer Tortellini Soup.  During Lent you shouldn't make tortellini soup because one of the main ingredients is chicken broth unless you can figure out a way to get around this using water.  I'm guessing the tomato sauce could be bolstered up by adding some watered down retail tomato soup.

Two dishes that call for spaghetti are Pasta N Eggi (spaghetti with eggs) and Anchovy Pasta.  Pasta N Eggi, pronounced as one word "pastaneggi," was a favorite of my youngest step-daughter and we made it year round but it is a good substitute for the Lenten Season.

Anchovy Pasta was originally just made on Christmas Eve to make up one of the seven fishes for the Italian table.  In our house, the only one who actually liked it was PupPup, my father-in-law.  Needless to say, I don't make this dish anymore but it is a staple for the Italian table.

That is all I have for the basic pasta recipes but we will continue this vein of thought with some recipes that take a little more time and energy on Friday.  Since this blog was posted on Ash Wednesday, tomorrow we will delve into another vein of thought for our cooking enthusiasts.