A few moments ago I finished a very lovely tuna sandwich. I prepared the tuna this morning in the usual way (chunk light tuna, mayo, Wickles relish, sliced Spanish olives and a tiny touch of dry French Onion soup mix) and when lunchtime rolled around I assembled my sandwich at work. This evening will be frozen premium Tilapia fish fillets (buy-one-get-one at HT) either baked or fried and whatever else suits my fancy. Fish on Friday is a year-around thing at our house, not just during Lent.
And speaking of fish on Friday, if you've never read one of Mark Kurlansky's fascinating books there are two I heartily recommend: Salt and Cod. Mark's books tell about how simple things like salt and cod made a huge impact on the lives of regular people.
Back in the middle ages when the Church told people they should abstain from eating meat on Fridays (not just during Lent) people abstained. This created a big demand for fish but, back then, if you didn't live near the sea, the fish that you got was something less than fresh. The enterprising Basques came up with a solution--two solutions actually.
First, as sailors with little fear of venturing far from land ended up off the Grand Banks where cod practically jumped into their boats. This mild tasting white fish was highly prized but while catching it was easy, bringing it fresh to market was a different story. This is where salt came in. Salting cod kept it edible for long periods of time allowing the Basques to sell their catches in the ports of Europe. It was cheap so peasants could afford it and salt cod became part of national cuisines. The Italians, French, Spanish and many others still use salt cod in their recipes even though fresh cod is available thanks to refrigeration.
If you're interested in trying salt cod some Friday, there are dozens of recipes on line. Here is a link to one http://is.gd/9ghEm
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