Simplicity from a Monastery Kitchen: A Complete Menu Cookbook for All Occasions [Hardcover]

Victor D'Avila-Latourrette (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 6, 2001

As good for the body as they are for the soul--America's best-known monastery cook captures the essence of culinary and spiritual simplicity in a complete collection of recipes and menus for every meal of the day.

In our hectic, mechanized age, Brother Victor-Antoine's recipes have been welcomed by thousands of tranquillity-seeking readers. His most extensive cookbook to date, Simplicity from a Monastery Kitchen now brings his unique culinary spirit to every meal and occasion.

As always, he draws on locally grown offerings to create a fresh range of recipes. Complemented by the influence of his French palate, each selection combines elegant flavors with natural ingredients for a satisfying yet nourishing dish. Start the day with Eggs in Potato Croustades or Avignon Banana and Raisin Bread. For lunch, try one of ten hearty soups, or a Polenta and Broccoli Casserole. Dinner could comprise Easy Spinach Croquettes and a Jerusalem Artichoke Salad, or a lavish affair featuring Asparagus Canapes, Grilled Sea Bass with Dill Sauce, and St. Peter's Zabaglione.

Also including a variety of souffles, savory pancakes, crepes, pastas, a special section devoted to mushrooms, and a tempting array of more than two dozen sauces, Simplicity from a Monastery Kitchen provides a way of cooking that truly celebrates the bounty of the Earth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Brother d'Avila-Latourrette is resident cook and gardener at Our Lady of the Resurrection monastery in upstate New York, and his devotion to home-grown, seasonal produce is evident on every page of this newest collection of recipes. He widens the focus from his Twelve Months of Monastery Soups (1996) to include all courses from appetizers to desserts. There are no meat or poultry offerings, but he serves up a nicely varied selection of French-accented vegetable casseroles and salads, along with fish, egg, crepe, rice and pasta dishes. Recipes are straightforward and flavorful, but most are not necessarily "simple," requiring, in fact, some substantial kitchen skills (bread-baking, deep-frying, preserving) and the ability to overcome occasionally less-than-explicit instructions. Happily, some selections are elegantly easyACanap? of Roquefort and Walnuts, Pasta with Arugula and Goat Cheese and liqueur-scented Peach ClafoutisAwhich, as their ingredients indicate, demonstrate a more luxurious approach to the monastic ideal of "wholesome frugality." Earthier dishes, like Eggplant Steaks with Red Pepper Sauce or Polenta with Broccoli, will please vegetarian and liturgical purists, while the thought-provoking quotations and medieval-style line drawings that decorate the pages will delight the mind and eye. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

D'Avila-Latourrette, whose monastery kitchen is in upstate New York, is the author of a number of best-selling cookbooks, but perhaps he is getting tired his latest has little of the freshness of, for example, Twelve Months of Monastery Soups. Some of the recipes are simple and fairly appealing, but many of them are familiar standards of classic French cuisine, and some are extremely rich (Eggs Cocotte uses three cups of cream for a sauce to serve six). It's also unclear why this is called a menu cookbook, as recipes are organized by course and there are no menus given. Buy for demand.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (February 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767906098
• ISBN-13: 978-0767906098
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book, November 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Simplicity from a Monastery Kitchen: A Complete Menu Cookbook for All Occasions (Hardcover)

It seems ridiculous to try to describe a cookbook as "peaceful" but this cookbook really is. Just reading it almost always fills me with the feeling I get when I am working on a familiar, much-loved recipe for people I care about on a special occasion, which unfortunately is rare. I think that is the magic of this author and this book; the author really seems to approach every meal as a celebration--but a celebration of simple things, as the title says.

This book is mostly vegetarian except for a short but notable chapter on fish. It seems to draw effortlessly from a variety of ethnic sources but all the dishes share the same basic qualities. They really are simple and easy to prepare; there isn't a single one I would describe as fussy. I suppose when you are cooking for an entire monastery you wind up with recipes that also are easy to prepare for 4 or 6!

The directions are simple and clear and the book itself is beautiful. There are interesting illustrations, seemingly woodcarvings not of the food but of mideaval life. There are also quotes on the subject of simplicty, joy, prayer in the margins which are as inspirational as the recipes.

This book will make you hungry for a hundred different kinds of vegetables, a peaceful weekend in the kitchen and a lot else. I recommend it to anyone who takes real joy in cooking.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars With a unique and tranquil culinary spirit, June 7, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Simplicity from a Monastery Kitchen: A Complete Menu Cookbook for All Occasions (Hardcover)

The delightful recipes comprising Brother Victor-Antoine's Simplicity From A Monastery Kitchen brings a unique and tranquil culinary spirit to today's hectic life style. From Eggs in Potato Croustades, Gnocchi with Arugula and Watercress, and Deauville Shrimp Bisque, to Jerusalem Artichoke Salad, St. Anthony's Bread, and Natas (a Portuguese dessert from an old nunnery), Simplicity From A Monastery Kitchen recipes combine natural ingredients for satisfying, nourishing, elegantly flavored cuisine that would grace any table.