Catholic Recipe: Beef Collops

The Monday before the start of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, is known in some areas as Collop Monday. 'Luxury' foods such as meat, eggs and butter were forbidden during Lent, and Collop Monday was the last opportunity for eating meat. Any fresh meat still available would be sliced into steaks and salted to preseve it until the end of th eperiod of fasting -- collops, a Scandinavian word, means a slice of meat. People would traditionallsy eat collops and eggs on this day.

DIRECTIONS

Cut the meat into very fine slices. Heat the butter in a frying pan, then fry the grated onion and crushed garlic slowly in the hot buttter, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the meat, stock and claret if using and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Season. Serve very hot, surrounded by triangles of fried bread.