You know what makes a meatless dish great? Lots and lost of meat.

I'm not Catholic but, thanks to the lingering cultural immersion of a New Orleans upbringing, I do find myself fretting over whether to eat meat on Good Friday. I've got a pretty good recipe for Gumbo Z'herbes. (See the bottom half of this post.) But I can't bring myself to make it without ham hocks.  



Leah Chase loads hers up with several varieties of pork.  But she gets special dispensation from the Pope for serving it on Thursday. Doesn't that defeat the whole point though? Gumbo Z'herbes with meat is too good not to make, but doing so violates the dietary restriction that brought it into being in the first place. 

Maybe I'll compromise this year and garnish with a boiled shrimp.