Today Matt Swaim, Sonrise Morning Show host on Sacred Heart Radio, chatted about St Valentine and Fat Tuesday.

Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. 

Lent – the 40 days leading up to Easter – was traditionally a time of fasting and the tradition on Shrove Tuesday in England was that Christians went to confession and were “shriven” (absolved from their sins). Thus the name Shrove Tuesday. “Shrove” is the past tense of the word “Shriven”, which means to obtain absolution through confession and penance.

Now some celebrate Shrove Tuesday as a Mardi Gras celebration. Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” in French. Shrove Tuesday was the last opportunity to “feast”  before embarking on the Lenten fast. There’s lots of partying and food to go with it. 

That’s why I’m sharing a famous New Orleans sandwich, muffaletta for Fat Tuesday. And I’ll also post my best shortbread cookie hearts for Valentine’s Day since that’s coming up, too. Saint Valentine was a 3rd-century Roman priest martyred for defying the emperor who banned marriage, by secretly marrying couples.

Muffaletta with olive dressing

Instructions

One large loaf Italian bread, sliced into two horizontally. 

Vary meats and cheese to suit you.

Filling:

1/2 pound each: thin sliced baked ham and provolone cheese

1/4 pound thin sliced hard salami

Thinly sliced tomatoes

Thinly sliced red or other onions

Leaf lettuce (opt)

Dressing

Go to taste on this.  If you don’t like black olives, use Greek or green. You may wind up with dressing left over. It makes a nice spread for wraps.

Ingredients

Go to taste on this, tasting after it’s made.

1/2 cup minced black olives

2/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1-2 tablespoons minced onion

1/2 cup fresh basil, finely chopped or 2 teaspoons dried

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Pepper to taste

Instructions

Whisk together dressing ingredients. (Can be made a day ahead).  Set aside.  

Hollow out bottom loaf, leaving ½” thick sides.  

Hollow out top loaf, but leave sides a bit thicker.  

Spread dressing on inside of top and bottom loaves.  Set top aside.  

Start layering meats, cheese, vegetables and lettuce, brushing each layer with dressing, until you run out of filling. 

Press each layer down really firm as you go. 

Press top onto sandwich, pressing down really firm, wrap and chill for 1 – 8 hours.  

Cut into big wedges to serve. Skewer with long toothpicks.

Take the bite out of onions!

Put slices in ice water for 20 minutes to several hours, then drain. 

Shortbread cookie hearts 

Easily doubled. Makes up to 1-1/2 dozen, depending on size. 

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add vanilla and beat until combined.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and add slowly to butter mixture. As soon as it’s mixed well, stop beating. Too much beating results in a tough cookie.

Form dough into ball, put in plastic wrap and smoosh down to flatten. Makes rolling out easier.

Refrigerate 1 hour or up to a few days to firm up.

Roll out on lightly floured surface to 1/4” thick.

Cut into desired shapes, re-rolling as necessary. (If you’re going to sprinkle with sugar, do it now and press down real gently to make it stick).

Bake 14-17 minutes or just until edges start to turn light brown. Cookies will be a bit soft but will firm up nicely after cooling.

Powdered sugar frosting with milk or water

2 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons milk or water

1/2 or so teaspoon vanilla

Food coloring (optional)

Instructions

Whisk everything until you get right consistency.

Add food coloring drop by drop. 

Extra can be stored in refrigerator and whisked at room temperature.

Powdered sugar frosting with light corn syrup (more glossy and dries harder).

Ingredients

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted, then measured

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

3-4 tablespoons milk 

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Food coloring (optional)

Instructions

Whisk everything until you get  right consistency.

Add food coloring drop by drop. 

Extra can be stored in refrigerator and whisked at room temperature.

To frost cookies

After they cool, I like to dip the cookies face down in the icing. Carefully wiggle it around a bit so the whole top gets coated. Extra can be scraped off edges if necessary. Place on rack to dry. 

Or you can drizzle the icing on with a fork or whisk. It’s pretty that way too and allows some of the cookie to show on top.

Let cookies sit until icing hardens completely before storing or stacking.