While not quite my culinary role models it was always fascinating to turn on the television and watch the engaging and entertaining Jennifer Patterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright and their alter egos, the Two Fat Ladies, whip up a sumptuous treat using scary amounts of butter, chocolate and full fat cream. Between them, the two girls could turn a humble lettuce into lip-smacking, moreish, calorie-laden, comfort food and make us laugh at the same time.
One of the most memorable programs was filmed in the spacious kitchens of Kylemore Abbey, a magnificently located turreted castle in the Irish Connemara, where Jennifer and Clarissa prepared a 5 star feast for the Benedictine sisters who live there. No expense was spared and the convent community dined on local lobster, tomato tart, broad beans with dill, and finished off the meal with raspberry and strawberry shortcake.
Now the Kylemore nuns are no slouches when it comes to culinary expertise, though lobster is probably off the day to day lunchtime menu. The sisters bake cakes and scones for the abbey restaurant, cook their own meals using abbey grown produce, keep livestock and are known all over Ireland for their award winning, 6 acre Victorian walled garden. They have also produced a ‘chatty’ recipe book of their favourite dishes which also offers a fascinating insight into the cloistered lives of the nuns and the relationship of food to religious celebrations. Easter Sunday lunch is a three course feast with roast lamb the focus and rhubarb from the abbey garden for dessert. In December, the Michaelmas Goose with gravy and potato stuffing is followed by traditional Christmas pudding and old fashioned sherry trifle, all accompanied by a glass of wine. Important days, such as Feast days, Profession Days and Clothing Days (when the novice receives her habit) are celebrated with a special communal meal and a rich, fruit cake is always baked for such memorable occasions.
Polish nun Sister Anastazja Pustelnik of the Daughters of Divine Love in Krakow has gone one step further. She has released a DVD of the recipes which have made her a household name in Poland. Sister Anastazja practises her craft on a large community of very well fed Jesuit priests who live in Krakow. Her most famous recipe, perfected over time by the priests, is for a special cheesecake dubbed ‘A Nun’s Secret’. The recipe came to her in a dream and consists of an ambrosial concoction of cream cheese, pink gelatin and sponge cake topped with thick chocolate icing, and worth the calorie splurge. Sister Anastazja has sold over 1,000,000 copies of her eight volume recipe book series.
And a Frenchman, Brother Victor-Antoine D'Avila-Latourrette of Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery in Lagrangeville, New York has written over a dozen recipe books, the most popular covering soul-soothing monastery soups (Twelve Months of Monastery Soups). A book of salads was perfected experimenting with produce grown in the monastery market garden (Twelve Months of Monastery Salads). Brother Victor-Antoine’s latest offering, The Monastery Garden Cookbook: Farm-Fresh Recipes for the Home Cook, is a selection of vegetarian recipes inspired by his south of France background and promotes simple, nutritious, meat free meals using herbs and vegetables. Jennifer and Clarissa would not approve!
Kylemore Abbey Cookbook is available from the abbey: kylemoreabbey.com or from amazon.com
Sister Anastazja’s books (in Polish) can be purchased from: merlin.pl
Brother Victor-Antoine’s books are available from the monastery: ourladyoftheresurrectionmonastery.webs.com and amazon.com
Trish Clark is author of Good Night and God Bless: A Guide to Convent and Monastery Accommodation in Europe, Vols I and II, both published by Hidden Spring, an imprint of Paulist Press NJ. We've interviewed Trish about Good Night and God Bless. She writes a monthly column for Wandering Educators as the Travel with a Spiritual Twist Editor.
You can find her at http://goodnightandgodbless.com/