MAUNDY THURSDAY - GREEN THURSDAY RECIPES

 MAUNDY THURSDAY

GREEN THURSDAY RECIPES

In central Europe, Maundy Thursday is called “Green Thursday” inspired by a tradition of eating green things. The main meal starts with a soup of green herbs, followed by a bowl of spinach with boiled eggs and meat with dishes with various green salads. In the early Church Holy Thursday was not a fasting day - supposedly because the cleaning and bathing required for Easter was viewed as taxing enough to dispense with the fast. It is highly likely actually, that the real reason was that the Holy Days of Good Friday and Holy Saturday were a 'Black Fast", lasting from 3pm on Good Friday until midnight on Holy Saturday. Holy Thursday was therefore a means to set a store of calories to equip the faithful to last the distance.

Note too, the boiled eggs; Eggs were given up for Lent; hence their special importance at Easter Sunday, (together with their symbolism of new life). However, eggs do not originate from pagan customs at all, they were part of the Jewish Passover and the eating of eggs on Holy Thursday, (the day of Christ's Passover), reflects this. The emphasis on eggs at Easter is of Jewish origin.

CREAMED BROCCOLI SOUP

4 cups (1 litre) chicken stock

1 cup heavy cream

2 large broccoli heads. Divided into small florets, stalks discarded

½ cup, (125 ml) crème fraiche

salt and pepper

125g thinly sliced bacon or prosciutto.

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 Combine the stock and the heavy cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add two-thirds of the broccoli florets. Cook for 5 minutes, then remove the florets with a slotted spoon and puree with a little of the liquid. Add the crème fraiche, simmer gently for 10 minutes and season with the salt and pepper.

2 Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a frying pan until golden brown and crisp. Drain on paper towels. Add the onion to the frying pan and cook over high heat until golden brown. Remove and keep warm. Add the reserved broccoli florets and sauté until crisp-tender.

3 Serve the soup garnished with the onion, bacon and broccoli florets.

If you are eating meat on this day, the broccoli soup can be combined with Roast Beef (eye fillet or scotch fillet), as follows:

1. Heat a pan over high heat. Brush the fillet with olive oil and brown it in the frying pan.

2 Roast the eye fillet until desired colour - for rare, about 10 minutes.

3. Let the eye fillet rest for a time equal to the cooking time, covered with brown paper and tea towels or aluminium foil.

Serve with: Spinach and hard boiled eggs.

Boil the eggs and slice in half lengthways.

And Either;

1. Puree the spinach with garlic and butter:

Boil the spinach until soft

Puree the spinach together with chopped garlic and butter.

Or;

2. Boil the spinach and set out with boiled eggs on top.

Drizzle over the spinach and eggs a dressing comprised of lemon juice, a small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper.

Recipe for the broccoli soup from: Kees Hageman, Elizabeth de Lestrieux, Jan Lagrouw, "The Garden Table," Friedman Fairfax Publishers, 1998, at pp. 94-95.

Image from Taste.com (a random broccoli soup)