Since I am of the Eastern Orthodox faith, my family and I take Communion at least once per year, usually during Great Lent. Per tradition, we must “fast” for a week to prepare, by essentially eating a vegetarian diet that excludes all dairy. In addition, some people (including clergy) also abstain from consuming cooking oils (e.g., olive) and alcohol.
Growing up, “fasting” for Communion was an excuse to load up on the carbs … not much of a “fast.” Since my parents were never big fish eaters, we would eat pastas, breads, and a lot of beans, along with a few veggies thrown in for good measure. Now that I’m older, and a bit more health conscious, I’ve always considered it a challenge to eat this way all week, but keep the carb intake to a minimum. The best that I’ve been able to do is under 200 g. of complex carbs per day. Not bad, considering there’s no meat proteins, cheeses, and eggs to fall back on.
My favorite vegetarian meal (sans dairy) is brown rice and fish baked in parchment.
I’ve been a fan of brown rice for a long time. The first time I tried it was many years ago at the Mustard Seed’s restaurant on the second floor of their amazing grocery store. I found out that they use Lundberg’s brown rice at the restaurant, and I immediately bought a bag and tried making it at home. It came out a little chewy, not as good as the restaurant’s. Then, I came across Alton Brown’s recipe for Baked Brown Rice, thanks to my older son, who’s a big fan of Alton’s geeky-science approach to cooking.
This is the basic, no frills “starter” recipe for baked brown rice. Once you get the technique down, and there’s not much to it, you can improvise. Use flavored broth instead of water, toss in some veggies, parsley, nuts, or raisins. Use whatever you’re serving with the rice to inspire you. The only drawback is that it takes some time … one hour to bake, but there’s hardly any prep time at all. It’s worth the wait.
Alton Brown’s Baked Brown Rice Recipe
Alton Brown's Baked Brown Rice
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (I use olive oil instead)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.
Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.
Paper-Wrapped and Steamed Red Snapper
Fish Baked in Parchment Paper
The steamed fish in parchment is a recipe from an old Japanese cookbook I’ve owned for years. Again, you can change the fish, the veggies, and seasoning as you like.
Ingredients
4 red snapper fillets (or any white, tender fish)
8 asparagus spears, hard ends discarded
4 spring or green onions
4 T. sake
Grated lime rind
Thinly sliced lime
1 tsp. shoyu (a type of soy sauce)
Directions
Sprinkle red snapper with salt on both sides and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Prepare the parchment parcel (directions follow)
Cut off the asparagus tips, and slice the stalks lengthways.
Slice the spring or green onions on the diagonal to make thin ovals.
Par-boil the asparagus tips for 1 minute in salted water and drain. Reserve for later use.
Place the asparagus stalks and the onions inside the packets.
Sprinkle with salt and lay the fish on top. Add more salt and some sake (I sometimes use white wine), then sprinkle with lime rind.
Pour boiling water into a deep roasting pan fitted with a rack (making sure the packets are not sitting in the water). Place the parcels on the rack, and cook for 20 minutes. (In a pinch, I’ve also just placed the packets directly on a baking pan, without the water bath.)
Check the fish – it should go from translucent to white.
Transfer the parcels to individual plates, and cut open. Insert a thin slice of lime and place two asparagus tips on top. Serve with shoyu (soy sauce) if you like.
How to Fold the Parcels
The folding method in this cookbook is complicated, you have to be an intermediate level origami master to figure it out. So, I just recommend the old standby method found in many en papillote recipes:
- Fold a piece of 12×15” parchment paper in half and cut it into a half-heart shape, staying as close to the outside edges as possible.
- Open the heart, and place ingredients on one side of the fold line, at least 2 inches from the paper’s edge.
- Fold the top half over to enclose. Starting at the top of the heart fold about ½” of the edge toward the center and start rolling this “hem” around the edge, pinching the roll as you seal it. When the roll reaches the bottom tip of the heart, twist the bottom inch or two to seal.
- Repeat the process to make four parcels.
Enjoy, and let me know if you have any favorite vegan recipes!
