How to celebrate St. Paddy's Day meat

Americans long have taken the notion of St. Patrick's Day being a "feast day" as an excuse to indulge — or, possibly, overindulge — in a range of Irish foods, from sausage-heavy breakfasts to corned beef-and-cabbage dinners. And beer.

But the now heavily secular U.S. holiday is rooted in the Roman Catholic Church as a day to remember the death of the actual Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland — largely by attending Mass.

Those roots throw the secular traditions of the day, which is on Friday, into direct conflict with another Roman Catholic tradition — that of not eating meat on Fridays during the 40-day holy period of Lent.

Fortunately, it only happens about every seven years. But it leaves a lot of Irish Catholics — and Catholics who aren't Irish but simply enjoy a good, green party — looking for options to celebrate without running afoul of the Church.

Those options include:

The Diocese of Gaylord — which covers the 21 most northern counties of Michigan's lower peninsula a total population of 506,000, of which nearly 54,000 are Catholics — does allow a dispensation.

However, the bishop says "perform another suitable penance on the day before or the day after St. Patrick's Day to express … penitential solidarity with the Catholic community."

One way to avoid the moral conflict is to go vegetarian for the day — technically meeting the meatless mandate while also eating your fill of Irish stew, shepherd's pie or corned beef and cabbage.

Both vegetarian sausages and tofu are easy to come by.

And, for all that corned beef and cabbage get the attention, colcannon is decidedly Irish — and meat-free.

If you want to make the dish vegan, rather than simply vegetarian, substitute your preferred variety of unsweetened non-dairy milk or cream and a plant-based butter for the traditional dairy products.

Vegetarian Irish stew is a way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day during Lent.

The folks at IrishCentral.com have a vegetarian take on Irish stew that involves a little bit of stout (the beer) and a lot of vegetables, while over at brandnewvegan.com, they substitute 1 pound of portobello mushrooms — cleaned and sliced in half lengthwise — for the missing beef or lamb.

The best thing about it is that you can pick and choose your vegetables. Rutabagas not your thing? Leave ’em out. Rutabagas totally your thing? Add more if it makes you happy.

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 medium leeks, cleaned and sliced (or 2 medium onions, diced)

1 cup parsnips, sliced

1 cup carrots, sliced

1 cup potatoes, sliced into chunks

1 cup turnips or rutabagas, peeled and sliced into chunks

1 cup celery, diced

4 cups vegetable stock

2 cups stout beer (such as Guinness)

1 cup pearl barley

½ cup fresh parsley, chopped

¼ teaspoon dried rosemary

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon dried majoram

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, sauté leeks in olive oil until translucent. Add the remaining vegetables and cook for a few minutes, stirring to coat the vegetables with oil.

Add broth, stout, barley and parsley to the pot. Add dried herbs. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Simmer for 1 hour or until vegetables are tender and the stew has thickened, adding water if necessary.

Season with salt and pepper. Serve with bread.

According to thehiddenveggies.com, the secret to vegan corned beef can be found in the brine. And, good news, it doesn't take nearly as long to brine sliced tofu as it does a 4- to 5-pound beef brisket. So it's a recipe you can pull off quickly.

(Sorry, Alton Brown, but who has the time — or the refrigerator real estate — to let a 5-pound chunk of meat spend 10 days brining?)

5 cups water

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon packaged pickling spice

1 teaspoon mustard seeds, if desired

1 teaspoon coriander seeds, if desired

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon brown sugar

28 ounce firm tofu

Make the brine by combining water, salt, 1 teaspoon of a packaged pickling spice, 1 bay leaf and brown sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes.

Add sliced tofu, cut about ¼-inch thick, to brine. Simmer for about 5 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit for about 30 minutes. If not ready to finish cooking immediately, cover and refrigerate until ready for the next step.

After the tofu has soaked in the brine for at least 30 minutes, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the tofu slices on an oiled cookie sheet for about an hour, until it starts to crisp at the edges.

Serve with cabbage or potatoes or use the tofu slices to make a vegan Reuben sandwich.

A traditional Irish dinner can include corned beef, soda bread and colcannon.

Just how green do you want to go for St. Patrick's Day? Cabbage maybe the traditional addition colcannon, but IrishCentral.com offers options

4 pounds Russet potatoes (7 or 8 large potatoes)

1 head of green cabbage or kale

1 cup milk or cream

1 stick butter, divided into thirds

4-5 green onions), chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh Parsley or chives

Peel the potatoes and put them in a pot to boil.

While the potatoes are cooking, remove the core from the cabbage, slice the leaves thinly, and put into a large saucepan. Cover with boiling water and keep at a slow rolling boil until the cabbage is just wilted and has turned a darker green. This can take anything from 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the cabbage.

Test it, being careful not to let it overcook. If anything, it should be slightly undercooked.

When the cabbage is cooked, drain it well, squeezing to remove any excess moisture; return it to the saucepan. Add one-third of the butter and cover. Leave it covered and in a warm place, but not on a burner, with the butter melting into it while you continue.

When the potatoes are soft, drain the water and return the potatoes to the saucepan. With the drained potatoes in the pan, set the burner to low, leaving the lid off so that any excess moisture can evaporate. When they are perfectly dry, add the milk or cream to the saucepan, along with a third of the butter and the chopped scallions (if you are using them). Allow the milk to warm but not boil — it is about right when the butter has fully melted and the pot is starting to steam.

With a potato masher or a fork, mash the potatoes thoroughly into the butter-and-milk mixture. Do not pass through a ricer or use a mixer, because it will make the potatoes gluey and disgusting.

Using a spoon, mix the cabbage thoroughly into the mashed potato.

Season with a little salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh parsley or chives. Make a well in the center of the mound of potato and put the last third of the butter in it to melt.

Serve.

The only catch? The act of giving up meat for Lent is intended to be an act of sacrifice on the part of the faithful. But eating these? You might not feel as if you're sacrificing anything.