Editor’s Note: Earth & Altar is going to get your Parish Hall ready for Lent with three recipes you can take to all your Lenten suppers, or for personal use if you’re fasting from heavier foods as a way to observe a holy Lent. These are also great for any day, during any liturgical season, when you need something to warm you up after you’ve faced the sometimes icy feeling of prayerful introspection. Check back in during February for two more recipes!

The Story Behind the Dish

My mother’s side of the family immigrated to Massachusetts from the Azores three generations ago. I have them to thank for my small stature, dark hair, and short fuse. The only things they brought with them were the clothes on their backs and their recipes. They even left the language at home under the strict orders of my great-grandmother, who threatened everyone that, “We’re Americans now. We shpeak-a de Englush.” I like to imagine that in a Portuguese-predominant neighborhood, theirs was the only quiet house that year. 

My mother is the one who passed down this recipe to me from my great-grandmother. Contrary to her genetics and the culinary prowess of the Portuguese, my mom can only cook three things: caldeen, linguiça and potatoes, and SpaghettiO’s. This “caldeen” recipe (properly spelled “caldinho,” but it’s Portuguese so it’s never spelled how you say it) was the ultimate comfort food growing up, and what you asked for when you were sick or when it was your birthday. It pairs nicely with massa sovada, or Portuguese sweet bread. If you don’t have 18 years, wizardry, and a 5-gallon bucket to make your own massa, store-bought King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls will work just fine. Feel free to make changes and tweaks to this recipe as you so desire, but for every change you make remember that you owe vovó (grandmother) one Hail Mary.