The simplest and easiest recipes for monastery cuisine. Lenten recipes from Maxim Syrnikov

The biography of Maxim Syrnikov, a culinary blogger and expert in Russian traditional cuisine, is filled with curious events throughout his life. The brand chef has written several books about cooking primordially Russian, but long-forgotten national dishes. How the future culinary specialist found his calling, what time he cooked his first dish, read in the article.

Biography

The date of birth of the future lover and admirer of Russian cuisine is hot July 28, 1965. The Syrnikov family lived in their mother's house in the Ostashkovsky district of the Tver region. Childhood was normal, the boy did not show any special inclinations. Having learned to read, he quickly mastered the family library, which consisted of Russian classics and cookbooks. Mother's desktop books by Alexandrova-Ignatieva, Pokhlebkin and Elena Molokhovets awakened in childhood the first interest in cooking.

To the question: where did the craving for cooking come from? Maxim answers with a joke, he always liked to eat. How old was the chef when the first dish was prepared and what was it? The boy read an interesting, and most importantly, as it seemed to him a very simple recipe for gingerbread, he decided to surprise the household. At that time, he was only 7 years old.

Naturally, the surprise was a success - a burnt pan and a kitchen covered in dough, but, as he recalls today, the gingerbread was still a success, and this saved the unfortunate culinary specialist from a beating. By the age of 11, the young cook had already re-read almost all the cookbooks from the home library and “fell ill” with Russian cuisine. What can I say, at the age of 15 he had his own collection of spices!

After leaving school, Maxim enters the Leningrad Institute of Culture and graduates with honors. Naturally, I had, like everyone else, to serve in the Soviet Army, it was a fleet. In the dashing 90s, everyone had a very hard time in order to earn at least some penny. Syrnikov even worked as a meat cutter for some time. Then friends invited me to their business, the first movement began to make and deliver hot pizza. As Maxim admits today, this, of course, was not at all what he dreamed of, but he had to start somewhere. Pizza according to Syrnikov's recipe was in good demand.

It was during this period that the young culinary specialist feels his calling and goes to the farthest corners of the country to get forgotten preserved national recipes. Russian cuisine for Maxim becomes not just a hobby, but also a significant part of his future life, gradually turning into a way of life.

For 20 years he has been collecting, summarizing and improving authentic recipes for long-forgotten traditional Russian dishes. In what corners of the Russian provinces he did not visit, with old women and grandmothers, he went around thousands of libraries and antique shops in search of old cookbooks. He did not bypass foreign countries, traveled to many countries of the world, studying the culture and cuisine of local residents, visited the most distant villages.

Mom thought that these were just children's hobbies, none of the parents until today fully realized that Maxim was busy with a serious male business. The work of his life every year more and more developed and gained popularity. However, it was not so easy to conquer your niche and become a sought-after chef. Firm confidence in the right choice, great determination helped the guy to make good money in the future.

Many Internet users often ask the same question: what is the real name of Maxim? The cook answers everyone that Syrnikov is the real native Russian surname. He can talk for hours about her origin, he just knows his ancestors wonderfully. Where does the Syrnikov family live today? At the moment they live in St. Petersburg, although they really want to leave for a cozy home of their own in Ostashkovo.

Creative activity - hobbies

An enterprising chef with the spread of Internet resources does not miss the chance to become famous. In the early 2000s, he launched his own blog, where he posts unique recipes for Russian dishes, telling the story of their creation. Each dish is accompanied by step-by-step, and most importantly, easy-to-understand cooking instructions. For a short period, Syrnikov's blog is gaining popularity and significant weight among users. Widespread popularity in the network brings its first fruits!

"Aquarium" is the first decent restaurant in St. Petersburg, where Syrnikov is invited to work out the menu. Then he is invited to create the menu of the Malachite restaurant in Izhevsk, the next was Rus Velikaya in Yekaterinburg, then a chain of restaurants in Chelyabinsk, Voronezh, Vladimir and Moscow.

In the usual sense, a permanent place of work is out of the question. The more popular, the more often Maxim Syrnikov is invited to new establishments that open to consult and work out a special menu. Working in several restaurants as a brand chef, and establishments from different cities, he often has to travel a lot throughout Russia.

Of the permanent places of work, the restaurant and gastronomic network "Dobryanka" in Novosibirsk can be noted. Approximately once every 10 days you have to fly to Siberia to control the preparation of dishes according to the old recipes and make innovations. The restaurant and gastronomic business in Siberia developed quite powerfully, which gave considerable prospects for development. The next stage is the opening of the Dobryanka network in such cities as Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Omsk, the cook does not forget Tver for his native place.

Maxim Syrnikov has become famous not only as a cook, he is also the author of unique cookbooks. His books: "Real Russian Food", "Russian Baking" and "Cooking Russian Every Day" include amazing recipes that are unlikely to be found anywhere today. Maxim does not forget about Internet resources, because at first it was with their help that fame came. So on YouTube, the chef has his own website, on which Maxim posts master classes for his subscribers.

As an ardent popularizer of national cuisine, he is the host of the Monastic Kitchen program on the Spas channel. His Lenten recipes bring joy to all true believers who observe strict fasting. The cook proves more than once that if you approach wisely, then even fasting can be spent in joy. Videos with step-by-step cooking instructions are in very high demand among netizens. He writes reviews and thanks. Pies, pancakes and mannik with apples prepared according to the recipe of Maxim Syrnikov become a frequent guest on the tables.

From passionate hobbies notes fishing. An excellent fisherman, he likes to sit on the shore with a fishing rod, then bake and smoke the catch with his own hands. Gastronomic love for fish was instilled from childhood by my parents, when they lived at the source of the Volga. This is a separate milestone in history. I would like to note that Maxim Syrnikov is one of the organizers of the popular culinary gastrofestival Seligersky Rybnik.

The program includes professional master classes of famous chefs cooking fish according to an old recipe. The festival was turned into a luxurious holiday with performances by folklore groups and Russian folk festivals.

Private life

The personal life of the popular chef and culinary specialist Maxim Syrnikov is a closed topic for the public. He does not give complete information in any of his interviews, only general information. Marital status: Married. The wife fully shares her husband's life hobbies, but does not rush into his business. There are children: a daughter and a son.

Maxim Syrnikov with his son

Daughter turns 29 this year, and son 13. That's all we know today. Family, wife, daughter and son, their photos do not appear on any Instagram or Facebook page, although Maxim is a very active user of social networks.

Maxim Syrnikov today

In February 2019, interesting information appeared on the network that the famous swindler from Russian cuisine finally got around to it. In court, the cook Maxim Syrnikov was recognized as a liar and slanderer. Many fans wondered what kind of sins the popular chef was fined for.

Olga and Pavel Syutkin, historians with education, discovered historical fraud and lies in the published materials of Syrnikov. They could not pass by such impudent lies, expressing their opinion about the works of the "great connoisseur of Russian cuisine." To which they received an unexpectedly quick response.

On his Facebook page, the enterprising touring chef published accusations against the Syutkins that they were simply “enemies of traditional Russian cuisine,” and then indecent insults poured out at them. Syrnikov even suggested that "this scum, Pavel Syutkin, considers him a direct competitor and is even going to kill him."

The Syutkins decided to deal with Syrnikov in a gentlemanly way, that is, by legal methods, and filed a lawsuit in court. In March 2019, the St. Petersburg court issued a final ruling, according to which the cook was recognized as a liar and slanderer. The final touch, the court imposed a fine of 200 thousand rubles on the "hero of Russian cuisine". It is not known how such an incident will affect the further professional career of a famous brand chef.

The biography of Maxim Syrnikov, a connoisseur of native Russian cuisine, will be replenished more than once with interesting facts and unique recipes. Today, a famous culinary specialist is invited to various TV channels to participate in popular projects, these are Rules of Life on the Kultura TV channel and Taste on OTV.

“It is very important to learn Christian asceticism.
Asceticism is not life in a cave and constant fasting,
austerity is the ability to regulate, among other things, one's own consumption by ideas and the state of one's heart.
Asceticism is the victory of man over lust, over passions, over instinct.”
© Patriarch Kirill
From the speech of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' on the air of the Ukrainian TV channel "Inter"

Now the Russian holy fathers of the Russian Orthodox Church, who are monastics (black clergy), are the main determining and guiding force for the modernization of the entire great democratic Russia and the pious transformation of the spirituality of the wise and heroic Russian people.

A group photo of the faithful Supreme Teachers and Russian Reformers before a banquet in the Grand Kremlin Palace:

The monastery meal is a collective ritual. The monks ate twice a day: lunch and dinner, and on some days they ate only once (although this "once" could be very long); for various reasons, it occasionally happened that meals were completely excluded. The main thing was not the quantity of food, but the quality of the dishes: fast or modest, the role of the dish in rituals, the time of eating.

Lean baked cold fish with decoration with lean mayonnaise and chopped vegetables.

Sturgeon baked whole without skin
(before baking, carefully remove the skin from the base of the head to the tail from the fish).

Pike-perch stuffed with mushrooms, avocado, potatoes (avocado and potatoes 1:1) and herbs and baked in the oven. The monks consider pike perch the leanest fish, because. it has only 1.5% fat.
Additives to the monastic diet of fat-rich avocados, olives, and nuts make it possible to make up for the lack of fat on fasting days, on which, according to the monastic charter, dishes without oil are supposed to be eaten.

Representation of the ceremonial monastic dinner of the middle of the 19th century. allows you to compile a list of dishes that were served at the table on November 27, 1850, the day of the celebration of the memory of the founder of the monastery.

“Register of food on the feast of St. James 1850 November 27th
For an appetizer at the top
1. 3 kulebyaki with minced meat
2. 2 pike steamed on two dishes
3. Jellied perches with minced meat on two dishes
4. Boiled carp on two dishes
5. Fried bream on two dishes
In the fraternal meal for lunch
1. Kulebyaka with porridge
2. Pressed caviar
3. Lightly salted beluga
4. Botvinya with salted fish
5. Shchi with fried fish
6. Ear from carp and burbot
7. Pea sauce with fried fish
8. Fried cabbage
9. Dry bread with jam
10. Kanpot from apples
Snack for the white clergy
1. Caviar and white bread on 17 courses
2. Cold head with horseradish and cucumbers on 17 dishes”

Serving examples:

Lenten monastic table setting for dinner.
Tomato slices with lean soy cheese, lean fish sausage slices, fish and vegetable snacks, hot lenten portioned dishes, various monastic drinks (kvass, fruit drink, fresh juices, mineral water), fruit plate, savory and sweet monastic pastries.

Monastic culinary recipes
St. Danilov Stauropegial Monastery
What is the fundamental difference in nutrition between laymen and monks - the former simply love to eat deliciously, the latter do the same, but with a deep charitable meaning and with lofty spiritual intentions. Of course, this great spiritual wisdom is not easily understood by ordinary lay people.

Blaming the contemporary atheistic Russian intelligentsia, Fr. Pavel Florensky said this about her attitude to food:
“The intellectual does not know how to eat, let alone taste, he doesn’t even know what it means to “taste”, what sacred food means: they don’t “taste” the gift of God, they don’t even eat food, but they “burrow” chemicals.

It is likely that many do not clearly understand the importance of food in the life of a Christian.

A modest monastic lunch:

Cold snacks:
- figured vegetable cutting,
- painted stuffed pike perch
- tender salmon of own special salting
Snack hot:
- julienne of fresh forest mushrooms baked with bechamel sauce
Salad:
- vegetable with shrimps "Sea freshness"
First course:
- fish hodgepodge "monastic"
Second course:
- salmon steak with tartar sauce
Dessert:
- ice cream with fruits.
The drinks:
- branded monastic sea
- kvass
And, of course, for dinner are served:
- freshly baked bread, honey cakes, various savory and sweet pastries to choose from.

Serving examples:

Monastic lenten snacks for the common monastic table.

Semuzhka own special monastic ambassador.
For squeezing lemon juice, monastic cooks recommend wrapping it with gauze to prevent lemon seeds from getting in.

Lenten fish hodgepodge with salmon.

Lenten fish hodgepodge of sturgeon with pie stuffed with burbot liver.

Steam salmon with lean mayonnaise tinted with saffron.

Lenten rice pilaf, tinted with saffron, with slices of fish and various seafood, which God sent today for dinner to the monastic brethren.

Fruity bouquet for a common monastic table.

Monastic lean chocolate-nut log.
Chocolate-nut masses of three colors (from dark chocolate, white chocolate and milk chocolate) are prepared as indicated in the previous recipe "Monastic Lenten Candy Truffles". Then they are poured in layers into a mold, previously neatly covered with plastic wrap.
The widespread use of various nuts and chocolate in the monastic diet makes it possible to make monastic food tasty and quite complete.

Monastic fasting sweets-truffles.
Ingredients: 100 g of dark dark chocolate, 1 teaspoon of olive oil (on days when oil is prohibited, do not add olive oil, but the sweets will turn out to be somewhat harder), 100 g of peeled nuts, 1 teaspoon of good cognac or rum, a little grated nutmeg.
Peel the nuts in a mortar, heat the chocolate with the addition of olive oil, stirring, in a water bath to 40 gr. C, add crushed nuts, grated nutmeg and cognac, stir; take a warm mass with a teaspoon in a plate with cocoa powder (to taste, powdered sugar can be added to cocoa powder) and, rolling in cocoa powder, form balls the size of a walnut.

Recall that in monasteries they do not eat meat very often, in some they do not eat it at all. Therefore, the "spell" "Crucian, crucian, turn into a pig" does not work.

On great and patronal holidays, the brothers are blessed with a “consolation” - a glass of red wine - French or, at worst, Chilean. And, of course, dishes are being prepared for a special holiday menu.

breakfast menu of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' on one of the days of April 2011.
Menus of patriarchal nutrition are carefully developed and balanced by nutritionists to maintain the proper energy in the patriarch, which is necessary for the tireless conduct of his enormous spiritual, organizational and representative work.
In the patriarchal menus, all raw materials and ready-made dishes undergo the same check as in the Kremlin kitchen. All the dishes on the patriarch's table are the fruit of a long analysis, discussions and endless tastings of the highest class culinary specialists, sanitary doctors and nutritionists.
For Patriarch Kirill's indispensable faith in God's mercy and protection is a high spiritual matter, and the work of the patriarchal guards from the FSO and the corresponding doctors and laboratories is a daily earthly matter.

Cold dishes:
Sturgeon caviar with buckwheat pancakes.
Caspian sturgeon, smoked, with galantine from grapes and sweet pepper.
Salmon stroganina with parmesan cheese and avocado mousse.

Snacks:
Pheasant roll.
Calf jelly.
Bunny pate.
Pancake pie with blue crabs.

Hot appetizers:
Fried grouse.
Duck liver with rhubarb sauce with fresh berries.

Hot fish dishes:
Rainbow trout poached in champagne.

Hot meat dishes:
Smoked duck strudel.
Roe deer back with lingonberry galantine.
Venison grilled.

Sweet foods:
Cake with white chocolate.
Fresh fruits with strawberry galantine.
Baskets with fresh berries in champagne jelly.

The monastery chef is happy to share his recipes for vegetable salad with shrimp and fish hodgepodge.

First of all, in order for everything to turn out tasty and pleasing to God, you need to start cooking by reading a prayer. Have you read? Now to business!

Serving examples:

Layered lenten salad according to the monastery recipe.
Lay the salad in layers, each layer under lean mayonnaise, salt to taste.
1st layer - canned crab meat, finely chopped (or crab sticks),
2nd layer - boiled rice,
3rd layer - boiled or canned squid, finely chopped,
4th layer - Beijing cabbage, finely chopped,
5th layer - steamed stellate sturgeon, finely chopped,
b-th layer - boiled rice.
Decorate with lean mayonnaise, caviar, green leaf and serve to the monk's table.

Vinaigrette according to the monastery recipe.
The composition of the vinaigrette includes: baked whole in the oven, peeled and diced: potatoes, carrots, beets; canned green peas, onions, pickles, olive oil.
Sometimes monastery cooks prepare a vinaigrette with the addition of boiled beans and mushrooms (boiled or salted, or pickled).
To taste, finely chopped salted herring can be added to the vinaigrette.

Lenten portioned dish of lobster boiled in vegetable kurt-broth (dip a live lobster upside down in boiling kurt-broth of carrots, onions, herbs, salt and spices, lobster boil time is 40 minutes, then let it brew for 10 minutes under the lid) with a side dish of boiled rice, tinted with saffron, and vegetables with separately served in a cup of lean flour sauce from sturgeon broth with the addition of onion, mashed through a sieve, simmered until transparent (avoid browning) and spices; garnish with a slice of lemon.

There is still a lot of interesting things about products, dishes and those who eat these dishes.

Everyone who, while living in a monastery, visited the monastery refectory, is surprised at how tasty the food is there, although the products are the simplest. To the question, what is the secret?

The monks themselves answer as one: "There are no secrets here, just when you cook and when you eat, you need to pray." But still there are some general principles that are observed in most monasteries, following the instructions of the holy fathers.

Firstly, you can’t eat up your fill, food should not burden the stomach. You should leave the meal with a slight feeling of hunger, which, by the way, is absolutely correct, since, according to all the laws of our nature, saturation occurs half an hour after eating.

Secondly, the food should, if possible, be vegetable and devoid of any spices. As we were explained in the Solovetsky Monastery, “there is a fine line between satisfying the feeling of hunger and pleasing the whims of the flesh. A monk needs to learn to distinguish it well. it is the only joy left to him from the world."

To avoid such temptations, the monks adhere to simple rules: food should be simple, nutritious, healthy and contain the necessary vitamins. Food serves to saturate and maintain strength, nothing more.

Brest Nativity-Bogoroditsky Monastery

Lenten biscuits in brine

1 cup brine (preferably from canned tomatoes), 1 tsp. baking soda, three-quarters of a glass of vegetable oil, three-quarters of a glass of sugar, 1 sachet (11 g) of vanilla sugar, flour.

Mix brine, vegetable oil and sugar, add vanilla sugar and flour. The dough should be dense enough so that it can be rolled out into a 1 cm thick layer. Cut out cookies with a cookie cutter and bake in a well-heated oven until golden brown.

Oatmeal jelly (lean jelly)

500 g of oatmeal, 3 crusts of rye (yeast) bread, salt, sugar - to taste.

Pour oatmeal with warm water to completely cover. Dip the bread crusts into the pan and put in a warm place for a day, stirring occasionally. Strain through cheesecloth, add 0.5 l of water, salt, sugar. Put on a small fire, stirring constantly, bring to a boil, stand for 5 minutes after boiling. Remove from heat, pour into bowls, let cool.

Lenten gingerbread

4 cups flour, 2 cups sugar. One glass of raisins, finely chopped walnuts, vegetable oil and dried fruit decoction, 25 g of ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 2 teaspoons of soda, salt to taste.

Mix sugar, salt and cinnamon thoroughly with vegetable oil. Add minced raisins and chopped walnuts. Dilute with a decoction of dried fruits and add soda. Then gradually add flour, pour in vinegar and mix. Pour the dough into a greased and floured form and place in the oven. Bake at a temperature of 170ºС for 50-60 minutes.

***

Lenten Recipes:

Lenten Recipes- Orthodox fasts and holidays
Life without oil (Lent recipes)- Victoria Sverdlova
Lenten Recipes: Breakfasts
Lenten Recipes: Salads and Appetizers- Boring Garden
Lenten Recipes: Lenten Soups
Lenten Recipes: Main Courses- Nina Borisova, Maxim Syrnikov
Lenten Recipes: Pastries and Desserts- Nina Borisova
Fasting recipes: drinks in fasting- Maxim Syrnikov, Nina Borisova
- Alexey Reutovsky
The history of Russian cuisine: we in Russia are doomed to eat porridge- Maxim Syrnikov
Special dishes of Great Lent: crosses, larks, ladders, black grouse- Maxim Syrnikov
Kolivo: Athonite recipe- Boring Garden
fruit table- Pravoslavie.Ru
Advent Recipes: lentil stew, bread salad, green soup, squid stew, eggplant, avocado appetizer, squid and cub hodgepodge, couscous, gozinaki, apple toast, etc. - Ekaterina Savostyanova
Recipes for the New Year- Ekaterina Savostyanova
Maslenitsa: 10 best recipes- Orthodoxy and the world
How I Made Ancient Roman Garum Sauce(with photos and comments) - culinary reconstruction - Maxim Stepanenko

***

Trinity Sergius Lavra

Millet porridge with pumpkin

1 liter of water, 100 grams of pumpkin, a glass of millet.

Sort millet, rinse. Rub the pumpkin on a grater, add water and cook for half an hour. After that, add millet, salt, sugar and cook until tender.

celery salad

600 g celery root, 200 g each carrot and apple, 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Grate the root, add grated carrots, an apple, sprinkle with lemon juice - so that the apple does not darken. Fill with vegetable oil.

Trinity Serafimo-Diveevo Convent

Bishop's cutlets

Half a loaf of white bread, 3-4 onions, a glass of peeled walnuts (they replace meat and fish), two potatoes, a clove of garlic.

Pass all other ingredients through a meat grinder. Add garlic, salt, ground pepper.

There is no need to add oil to minced meat, because. when frying, tunics absorb oil very well.

Do not spare breadcrumbs, they form a crust during frying, which prevents the cutlets from falling apart. Make the tunics small and thick, so that later it is convenient to turn them over.

I think you can experiment: add a can of canned beans or mushrooms to the minced meat, or double the proportion of potatoes.

Pyukhtitsky Dormition Convent

Pea porridge

500 g of peas, 2 - 4 onions, vegetable oil, salt to taste.

Put the peas in a large saucepan, wash thoroughly in cold water and pour 1.5 liters of water. Leave for 1 hour, then put on high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, carefully remove foam and cook until tender, stirring frequently. Cooking time depends on the variety and quality of peas and can vary from 45 minutes to 2-3 hours. Peas should boil down: turn into a homogeneous mass, like mashed potatoes. Salt to taste, add finely chopped onion fried in vegetable oil and arrange on plates, sprinkled with fried onion rings on top. Pea porridge can be cooled in the form, then cut into pieces and served as a cold appetizer.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Stauropegial Monastery

Lentils with beets

500 g green lentils, 1 large beetroot, vegetable oil, salt and spices to taste.

Wash the lentils, cover with cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove the foam, reduce the heat to a minimum and cook under the lid for 40 minutes, adding salt. Peel raw beets and grate on a coarse grater. Place the beets in the pot with the lentils and cook for 5 minutes. Add chopped garlic and spices - ground black pepper, turmeric, garam masala. Remove from heat and leave for 30-60 minutes. You can add vegetable oil. It turns out a very tasty dish with a taste of borscht.

Solovki tea

Mix in equal proportions three varieties of tea - black, green and red (hibiscus). Take herbal collection - mint, lemon balm, oregano, thyme, cloudberries, a little chamomile and mix in equal amounts. The collection of herbs can be from one quarter to one tenth of the tea.

It is better to first put herbs in boiling water, wait 5 minutes, and then add a mixture of teas. Wait 5 minutes again and strain through a colander. This tea can be both stored and heated.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery

Shchi Valaam (with mushrooms)

A handful of dried mushrooms, 4 potatoes, 250-300 g of white cabbage, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 bay leaf, salt and pepper to taste.

Soak dried mushrooms overnight in cool water. In the morning, strain the water through a fine sieve or gauze into a separate container (do not pour it out, we will still need it). Rinse the mushrooms, cut into slices and put in boiling salted water. Cook for 1 hour until done. Cut the onion into small cubes, cut the carrot into thin strips and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Add diced potatoes and finely chopped cabbage to the pan. After 10 minutes, add the prepared carrots and onions and cook for another 15 minutes. The cabbage should not be overcooked, but should remain slightly crispy. Shortly before readiness, put a bay leaf in the soup and pour in the preserved mushroom infusion. Pour into bowls and season with black pepper to taste.

Potato salad

3-4 potatoes, 1 carrot, 200 g frozen green beans, 100 g frozen green peas, 10 olives, 1 onion, a few sprigs of dill and parsley, salt to taste, unrefined sunflower oil.

Boil carrots and potatoes in their skins, cool, peel and cut into cubes. Steam green beans and green peas. Combine potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, pitted olives and diced onion in a large bowl. Sprinkle with finely chopped spicy herbs - parsley and (or) dill and pour over with sunflower oil. Salt to taste and mix gently.

500 g of buckwheat, 1 large carrot, 1 onion, 300 g of frozen green beans, 2 tbsp. l. tomato puree (you can use chopped tomatoes in their own juice), 1 tbsp. l. flour, vegetable oil, chopped herbs, salt to taste.

Cook crumbly buckwheat porridge. While the porridge is cooking, prepare the vegetable part of the dish. To do this, finely chop the carrot, cut the onion into small cubes and fry in a deep frying pan in sunflower oil until golden brown. Boil green beans in a small amount of salted water for 5 minutes from the moment of boiling, drain the broth and transfer the beans to the pan with the rest of the vegetables. Pour flour into a small dry frying pan and lightly fry. Add vegetable oil, tomato puree and mix, preventing lumps from forming. Dilute with hot water until the density of sour cream, heat to a boil and pour into a pan with vegetables. Cook for a few minutes, season with salt if needed. Put buckwheat porridge and vegetables in plates, sprinkle with chopped herbs and serve immediately.

Alexey Reutovsky

The first mention of monk-cooks dates back to the 10th century and refers to the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, which had its own kitchen. Only a century later, cooking in Rus' emerged as a separate specialty. With the development of cultural and spiritual life, the nature of nutrition changed, but the concept of a single Russian cuisine was preserved throughout the territory of Ancient Rus'.

Later, there was a division into royal, rural and monastic cuisine, the recipes of which are based on vegetables, herbs, and fruits.

What is monastery cuisine

Monastic cuisine emerged as a separate branch in the 16th century.

It was united by immutable attributes:

Russian oven;
kitchen utensils and utensils;
table customs passed down from generation to generation;
types and methods of preparing everyday and festive dishes.

Since ancient times, monasteries have been famous for miraculous and healing recipes for preparing food that can relieve bodily ailments, restore lost strength and spiritual purity. The monks kept and passed on secrets to the next generations, but today most of the culinary delights are undeservedly forgotten.

The reason was the lack of records in those distant times. The first semblance of a cookbook was written in 1547, but, unfortunately, it was only a list of dishes without a detailed description of the cooking process. Until now, scientists are struggling with mysterious names, such as "Plucked podparnaya" or "Fish tavranchuk".

The use of meat in the monasteries has always been banned, instead, the table abounded with fish dishes, which were served 3-4 times a week. On the Annunciation, fish served as the main festive dish on the table, it was baked, boiled, stewed, baked, fried on a spit, pre-soaked in kvass.

The daily menu necessarily included liquid dishes or "bread".

Under this term united:

cabbage soup, borscht, soup;
ear, kalya (fish soup with cucumber pickle);
hodgepodge, stew;
okroshka, botvinya, beetroot.

Snacks were a variety of salads from a mixture of boiled and fresh vegetables and herbs. For dessert, they ate pies and pies, gingerbread (honey bread), and kvass has always been the most popular drink. It was made from a variety of, sometimes unexpected products or their mixtures - beetroot, fruit, berry, honey, mint.

The Russian tradition has survived to this day - to bake Easter cakes for Easter, pancakes for Shrovetide, and treat yourself to sweet juicy at Christmas.

During fasting, special attention is paid to nutrition:

one-day - every Wednesday and Friday;
Epiphany Christmas Eve - January 18;
Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord - September 27;
Great Lent - 49 days, from Forgiveness Sunday to Easter.

It is at this time that mental strength is strengthened, the body is cleansed. Pregnant women, children, sick people and people doing heavy physical work can fast in a milder mode, as they need a larger source of energy for the full functioning or development of the body.

Monastic bakery of the Danilovsky Monastery

The St. Danilov Monastery began its history in 1282, when its construction began on the initiative of the son of Alexander Nevsky, Prince of Moscow Daniil Alexandrovich. By the end of the 13th century, during the campaign of the Golden Horde against Rus', the temple was devastated, and after the death of Prince Daniel, by decree of Kalita, it was moved to the Church of the Savior on Bor. The history of the monastery alternates between periods of rapid prosperity and complete decline during the entire period of its existence. In 1929, the temple was closed after the change of state power.

In 1983, it was decided to restore the Danilovsky Monastery in connection with the approaching millennium of the celebration of Baptism in Rus'. Since ancient times, the temple had its own bakery, which was famous for its magnificent breads made with a special sourdough. On the initiative of the rector of the Danilov Patriarchal Monastery, it was decided to revive the ancient traditions, and on April 10, 2009, the opening of the monastery bakery with the modern name "Danilov's Meal" took place.

Bread products are prepared according to ancient recipes on natural hop sourdough, which matures within three days. 40% of the baked assortment is bread - wheat, wheat-rye, scalded rye. The remaining 60% are confectionery products (patties, buns, cookies, gingerbread). In addition, the bakery bakes Athos breads made with a special tarragon sourdough.

The working day of bakers begins with a prayer, which is repeated during the baking process and at the end of it. It has been noticed that live sourdough reacts sensitively to the situation in the team. When everything is good, it plays, seethes, rises, and if tension or a bad mood is felt, then the leaven sours, does not rise. Therefore, the monastic pastries of the Danilov Monastery are consecrated with prayer and are prepared exclusively with a good mood, positive thoughts. It perfectly satisfies hunger and fills the body with spiritual joy, lightness and energy.

The modern Danilovskaya Trapeza produces 1,500 units of bread and 5,000 units of confectionery per day. New items often appear, for example, Barvikha bread on sprouted grain or pea flour bread.

Monastic food, the recipes of which are extremely diverse, is especially useful during fasts. She is endowed with special purity and received a blessing, which in modern language means high-quality healthy food. The undeservedly forgotten Russian Lenten cuisine will help you gain physical strength, cleanse your body, and get rid of ailments.

First course recipes

Liquid dishes are the basis of the daily menu in the monastery meal. Thanks to them, the body is saturated with essential nutrients and vitamins. In addition, they are easily digestible, do not overload the stomach.

Lean tomato soup

The dish is delicious both cold and hot.

Prepare the following:

water for cooking cereals - 0.56 l;
tomato juice - 0.55 l (if desired, you can use the rest of the brine instead);
onion - 1 pc.;
carrot - 1 pc.;
yellow lentils - ½ tbsp. (in the modern version, rice groats are used);
85 g chopped celery root;
bay leaf, vegetable oil, spices.

Cooking:

Rinse lentils or rice groats, boil lightly.
In a frying pan with heated oil, fry the grated root crop and chopped onion, simmer for 8 minutes.
Then add celery and simmer until it becomes translucent.
Put all the vegetables in a saucepan with boiled cereals, pour in brine or juice, simmer over low heat until the soup thickens.
Add seasonings to taste.

Rustic sorrel soup

Old country dish.

You will need:

2 liters of water;
green sorrel - 400 grams;
potatoes - 6 pieces;
onions - 2 things;
parsley root;
lots of fresh greens.

Cooking:

Cut the skin off the potatoes, but do not cut, but boil with whole tubers.
Pour the broth into a separate bowl.
Chopped leaves of sorrel, onion, herbs, chopped parsley roots pour a glass of potato broth, simmer for 7 minutes.
Cut the potatoes into cubes, add to the vegetables, dilute with the remaining broth, add salt, wait until it boils and turn it off.

mushroom broth

Mushroom broth is used as a base for soups. It is saturated with protein of vegetable origin, enriches dishes with a rich taste and aroma. Prepared from fresh or dried mushrooms. The only difference in cooking is that dry mushrooms are soaked for a couple of hours before cooking, and then boiled in salted water for about an hour.

Prepare:

230 grams of fresh or three times less dry mushrooms;
onion - 1 pc.;
carrots - 1 pc.;
2 potatoes;
35 ml of sunflower oil;
spices.

Cooking:

Fry chopped mushrooms for about 6 minutes in oil.
Immerse prepared cubes of vegetables into boiled water (1 l), send fried mushrooms there.
Let it boil for another 15 minutes, season with spices. Leave to infuse until cool.
For dried mushrooms, soak in boiling water, then pour out the liquid, rinse the mushrooms again.
Next, proceed according to the option with fresh mushrooms.

Beet cooler

Vitamin cold dish, which is especially in demand on hot summer days.

You will need:

3 medium young beets (do not cut off the upper green leaves);
aged kvass from beets - 1.5 l;
3 juicy fresh cucumbers;
3 boiled eggs;
dill, parsley, celery, onion;
230 g of curdled milk;
spices.

Cooking:

Rinse the beets, cook together with the tops.
Pour 0.5 liters of broth into a separate bowl.
Finely chop all vegetables, add spices, mix.
Leave the broth to cool, pour in kvass and yogurt.
Put chopped vegetables in deep plates, pour in enough beetroot dressing to cover the mass.
Cut the egg into 4 pieces and add to each serving.

Rassolnik

First you need to make sure that you have all the necessary ingredients.

Prepared from the following products:

dried or frozen mushrooms - 300 g (added for flavor, but you can do without them);
medium pickled cucumber - 3 pcs;
pearl barley or wheat groats - 155 g;
a lot of greens, dill, celery;
onions, carrots 1 pc.;
three potatoes;
three cloves of garlic;
a small pod of hot pepper;
leftover brine from canned cucumbers;
olive oil.

Step by step recipe:

Boil the cereal, drain the liquid.
Grind the mushrooms (if dried, soak in boiling water an hour before cooking).
Cut greens, onions, canned cucumbers, potatoes, and grate carrots.
In a cauldron, heat the oil, add cucumbers, celery stalks, mushrooms in turn, simmer, stirring thoroughly.
Then put carrots and onions, simmer for another 15 minutes.
Separately, boil the diced potatoes, add to the contents of the cauldron.
Add cucumber brine to taste, cook for another 13 minutes.
Then add the finished cereal and pepper pod.
Season with chopped garlic, herbs, set aside for infusion.

Lenten kharcho soup

A spicy aromatic dish.

Would need:

onion heads - 4 things;
ripened medium tomatoes - 4 pieces;
rice cereal - 2/3 cup;
a couple of sprigs of mint and coriander;
sunflower oil - 75 ml;
garlic cloves - 4 pcs.

Cooking:

Sauté chopped onion in oil until color changes.
Mix with crushed tomatoes and simmer for another 6 minutes.
Add rice and water, cook for about 14 minutes.
At the end, season with crushed garlic mass and chopped herbs.
Pour into bowls, pepper.

Second course recipes

Unique recipes for hearty lenten dishes will help diversify your daily menu. Do not forget that food can bring maximum benefit if words from a prayer are heard before, during and after the culinary process.

Dumplings with mushroom filling

Make a dense dough in water with two cups of flour and salt. Take out for half an hour in a cold place, then read a prayer and you can start.

For minced meat:

dry mushrooms - 1 tbsp.;
vegetable oil for frying;
a couple of onions;
flour - 1 teaspoon;
seasonings.

Cooking:

Pour boiling water into the mushrooms, let it brew for 3 hours, then boil without removing it from the water.
Wait for cooling, grind in a meat grinder.
Put the mushroom mass in a pan and fry, adding flour, onion, spices.
Roll out the dough, stick dumplings.
Put the dumplings one at a time into the boiling water, cook until they float.

jardinière

A hearty dish of vegetables baked in pots, it is a cross between a stew and a roast. It is very important to observe the indicated proportions, this allows you to feel the taste of each ingredient.

Would need:

fresh cabbage and potatoes - 1 kg each;
turnips, carrots, beans - 300 g each;
onions - 2 pieces.

Step by step recipe:

Boil the beans until tender, cut the rest of the vegetables into cubes of the same size.
Combine vegetable slices with beans, mix thoroughly, arrange in pots, close tightly.
If desired, pour a tablespoon of sunflower oil into each serving.
Bake in the oven for about an hour.

Barley porridge with vegetables

Delicious dish with simple ingredients available.

Required set of products:

pearl barley - 0.55 kg;
sauerkraut or fresh cabbage will need 1.3 or 1 kg;
onion - 1 pc;
carrots - 1 pc;
vegetable oil - 45 ml;
green peas - 1 can (if desired, you can replace it with a glass of dry peas, previously poured with boiling water for ½ hour);
seasonings.

Cooking:

Pour well-washed cereals onto the bottom of a cauldron or pan, then cabbage, sauerkraut will need to be squeezed out a little, fresh - mashed with your hands.
Send onions and carrots fried in oil, then soaked peas (put peas from a jar in a ready-made dish immediately before serving).
Season with spices, pour in two glasses of water and simmer over low heat.

Nut pilaf with dried fruits

The dish can be served as a dessert in cold and hot form.

Product set:

2 cups of rice cereal;
55 grams of light and dark raisins, dried apricots, dried plums, dried cranberries, hazelnuts, cashews;
honey - 60 ml.

Step by step recipe:

Rinse dry fruits, soak in water for a few minutes.
Fry the nuts in a pan without oil.
Rinse the rice until the white bloom disappears, then put to boil in salted water until half cooked.
Combine nuts, dry fruits with rice cereal, splash boiling water, simmer for another 17 minutes.
Add honey and let stand.

Stir before serving.

Mashed potatoes with fried onions

You will need potatoes, onions, vegetable oil, herbs.

Cooking:

Boil 1.55 kg of peeled potatoes, drain the broth and leave in a separate bowl.
Fry finely chopped pieces of three onions in vegetable oil (80 ml).
Mash the potatoes, gradually adding the remaining broth until the mashed potatoes reach the desired consistency.
Mix with fried onions, salt, sprinkle with chopped herbs.

Barley porridge with stewed mushrooms

Delicious mushroom dish.

Prepare the following:

180 g of barley groats;
220 g mushrooms;
onion - 1 pc.;
carrots - 1 pc.;
olive oil - 55 ml;
spices, herbs.

Step by step recipe:

Rinse the cereal, drain the liquid.
Add 0.8 l of fresh water, wait for swelling.
Chop the onion, carrots and mushrooms, lightly fry, then simmer until half cooked.
Boil the swollen cereal for 18 minutes, and immediately add the fried vegetables, spices and simmer for another 25 minutes.
Remove from heat, leave to infuse for 35 minutes.

Mushroom pilaf

For this dish, you need to take only selected mushrooms.

Cooking:

Leave 13 pieces of dried porcini mushrooms for three hours in hot water.
Boil in the same water, remove with a slotted spoon and cut into strips.
Fry 3 finely chopped onions and carrots in 45 ml of oil.
Pour a little tomato juice, put the mushrooms fried separately from the vegetables, simmer for a few minutes.
Put the vegetable mass with mushrooms in a bowl for cooking pilaf, pour in the washed rice (230 g), pour in the broth left over from cooking the mushrooms.
Simmer covered over low heat until done.

Stuffed bell pepper

First you need to prepare all the necessary ingredients.

For the pepper filling you will need:

10 pieces of bell pepper;
120 g of rice;
a couple of ripe tomatoes, a large carrot and two onions;
4 garlic cloves;
seasonings.

For sauce:

sunflower oil - 2 tbsp. spoons;
1 piece of bell pepper, onion, garlic clove;
5 tomatoes;
sugar - a teaspoon.

Step by step recipe:

Wash peppers, remove seeds, pour boiling water, blanch for 5 minutes.
Rinse rice, pour a glass of boiling water for 10 minutes.
Fry onions, carrots in oil, add diced tomatoes, herbs, garlic, seasonings, mix well.
Having combined the vegetable mass with rice, fill the peppers with the filling, place vertically in the bowl.
Twist the tomatoes for the sauce in a meat grinder, add chopped and fried vegetables, garlic, boil until the excess liquid has evaporated (about ½ hour).
Season with sugar, salt.
Pour the sauce over the peppers and simmer for 35 minutes.

Vegetable cabbage rolls

Boil the cabbage head in salted water until the leaves soften.

Further preparation:

Remove, wait until the water drains, disassemble the leaves.
Boil 150 g of rice groats, combine with fried onions and carrots, salt, add garlic, spices.
Put the finished filling with a spoon on a cabbage leaf and wrap it inside.
Put the stuffed cabbage tightly in a saucepan, add tomato juice to cover the top layer, salt, simmer for about an hour.

Lenten snack options

The table during fasting can be varied with hearty snacks and salads.

Vegetable salad

Dressed to taste with vegetable oil.

Rinse and boil medium-sized root vegetables:

4 potatoes;
2 carrots;
1 beet.

Let cool, remove skin, cut into cubes.

Add similarly chopped two medium pickled cucumbers, a small bowl of sauerkraut, onions.

Beans in walnut sauce

Pour 330 g of beans with water overnight.

In the morning, drain the liquid, add 4 cups of fresh water, boil.

The sauce consists of 2/3 cup of shelled walnuts, three crushed garlic cloves. All this is slightly ceiling.

Stir chopped parsley, dill, green onions into the nut mass along with the juice of half a lemon, spices, dilute with vegetable oil (45 ml).

Put the finished beans on a dish, put the peanut sauce on top.

Hoof with onions and mushrooms

0.3 kg of raw potatoes, grated, combined with 20 g of flour, soda, salt.

Further preparation:

Knead the dough, roll out a long tourniquet, which is cut into sticks of 2-3 cm.
Place the sticks on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until golden brown.
Boil whole mushrooms (do not pour out the water), remove with a slotted spoon, chop, fry in olive oil with onions.
In the remaining mushroom broth, immerse the finished “hooves” for 10 minutes, catch with a slotted spoon, let the water drain.
Serve on a plate with fried mushrooms.

Stewed cabbage

Decorate the finished dish with chopped herbs.

Step by step recipe:

Chop a large cabbage head, immerse in heated sunflower oil.
Pour water to close the cabbage, add salt, simmer under the lid for 20 minutes.
After that, remove the lid and continue the process until the liquid has evaporated.
Over high heat, bring the cabbage to transparency, squeeze the garlic.
Decorate the finished dish with chopped herbs.

Potato patties with mushrooms

From 1.55 kg of boiled potatoes, prepare mashed potatoes, make a viscous dough, gradually adding flour.

Further preparation:

For the filling, chop boiled mushrooms, overcook with onions.
Separate a small ball from the dough with wet hands, form a cake, put the minced mushroom in the center.
Pinch carefully around the edge.
Fry the resulting pies in oil on both sides until golden brown.

potato meatballs

1 kg of boiled potatoes mash into puree.

Grind a glass of walnut kernels along with three cloves of garlic, plenty of fresh cilantro and dill.
Squeeze the ground mass into a separate bowl, combine the remains with finely chopped onions, a spoonful of water, wine vinegar (30 ml), crushed saffron.
Combine with mashed potatoes, form meatballs, make a small indentation in each of which and fill it with squeezed juice.

Boil a glass of rice in salted water, drain off excess liquid.

Step by step recipe:

Pour a little olive oil into the rice porridge, cool.
From the resulting mass stick cutlets.
Breaded in breadcrumbs, fry on both sides.
You can serve with any sauce (garlic, tomato, mushroom, sour cream).

Buckwheat cutlets

Boil a glass of buckwheat and separately - 5 potatoes "in uniform".

Further preparation:

Cool potatoes, peel.
Twist buckwheat with potatoes in a meat grinder, salt, sprinkle with ground breadcrumbs and coriander.
Make cutlets, roll in breadcrumbs, fry on both sides.

stuffed tomatoes

Take 5 large ripe tomatoes, cut off the top, remove the core with a spoon.

Boil 200 g of rice groats in salted water.
Chop the peeled tomato pulp, fry and combine with rice porridge.
Stuff the tomatoes with the rice mixture and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

beet caviar

Peel three medium boiled beets, chop into small cubes.

Step by step recipe:

Fry the onion until golden brown, combine with beets.
Add ½ tablespoon of table vinegar, a couple of tablespoons of sugar, seasonings, fresh herbs to vegetables, stir.
Spread lettuce leaves on a dish, put beet caviar on them in the form of a slide.

Consume chilled.

Preparing monastic desserts

On the days of fasting, you can pamper your stomach with monastic sweet dishes, without fear of gaining extra pounds. Desserts are low in calories and rich in vitamins and minerals.

marmalade cookies

Knead a stiff dough from an equal amount of mineral water and oil (½ cup each).

Cooking:

Roll out a circle with a diameter of 30 cm and a thickness of 4 cm.
Divide the circle into 12 equal sectors.
Put marmalade on the wide edge of the dough, wrap it with a roll.
Put the cookies on a baking sheet, bake for 20 minutes at a temperature of 200 ° C.
Sprinkle the finished cookies with powdered sugar.

Cranberry mousse

Crush a glass of fresh cranberries, squeeze the juice with gauze.

Step by step mousse recipe:

Put the remaining cake in a saucepan, pour 0.5 liters of cold water, boil for 5 minutes.
Strain the decoction again and discard the pulp.
Bring to a boil, add half a glass of sugar.
After the disappearance of sugar grains, pour 3 tablespoons of semolina in a thin stream, stirring constantly.
Remove from fire, cool.
Beat the cooled mass with a mixer until whitening.
Add cranberry juice.
Beat for 3 more minutes.
Pour into glasses.

Hercules porridge fritters

Pour 110 g of oatmeal with a glass of boiling water overnight.

Cooking:

In the morning, soak 45 grams of raisins for ½ hour.
Pour into a container 3 tbsp. tablespoons of flour, a pinch of soda and salt, a spoonful of vegetable oil.
Add swollen raisins and cereal.
Leave the dough to infuse until bubbles form.
Using a spoon, spread in hot oil, fry on both sides.

Barley porridge with poppy

From 270 g of washed barley groats, cook porridge over medium heat.

Steam 40 g of dry poppy, twice pouring boiling water for 5 minutes.
Mix poppy seeds with barley porridge, adding a large spoonful of honey.
Leave to insist.

pumpkin fritters

Grate 400 grams of pumpkin pulp, add 3 tbsp. spoons of sugar, leave the mixture in a bowl until the pumpkin starts juice.

Cooking:

Combine with a bag of vanillin, soda on the tip of a knife, slaked with lemon juice.
Gradually add flour to the pumpkin mass until the dough acquires the consistency of thick sour cream.
Using a spoon, spread the dough into the heated oil, fry on each side.

carrot cake

Delicious treats made from the simplest ingredients available.

Prepare food:

a full glass of grated carrots;
sugar - 4 tbsp. spoons;
flour - 6 spoons with a slide;
olive oil - 100 ml;
soda and salt - a pinch each;
apple cider vinegar - a teaspoon;
apple jam;
a little nuts, cinnamon, powdered sugar.

Step by step recipe:

Combine carrots with sugar, salt, butter.
Pour flour, cinnamon, soda, slaked with vinegar.
Beat the dough until fluffy, put in a baking dish without crushing.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, do not dry out.
Cut the finished cake in half, soak with jam, sprinkle with powdered sugar on top.

Lenten manti with pumpkin

Prepare the dough from 3 cups of flour, a glass of water, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, salt, soda on the tip of a knife.

For the filling, cut into small cubes 600 g of pumpkin pulp and 400 g of onion, salt and pepper.
Roll out the dough into flat cakes with a diameter of 10 cm and a thickness of 2 mm.
Put minced meat in the center of each circle, pinch the edges, form manti.
Steam for 40 minutes.

Vareniki with cherries

Prepare lean dough, as in the Manty with Pumpkin recipe, only add a little sugar to it.

For the filling you will need ½ kilogram of pitted cherries and sugar.

Cooking:

Roll out the dough into circles with a diameter of 8 cm.
Put a teaspoon of berries and sugar in each, pinch the edges, giving the shape of a dumpling.
Boil water, put dumplings, stir with a slotted spoon.
Once they float, cook for another 3 minutes.

Recipes for monastery drinks

Of course, no meal is complete without drinks. Since ancient times, monastic drinking served to quench thirst, restore strength and enrich the body with nutrients and vitamins.

Cherry compote

Rinse 0.5 kg of cherries, pour 2 liters of water, add half a glass of sugar, bring to a boil.

Leave to cool, then add the juice of half a lemon or throw a lemon wedge into the compote.

Honey sbiten

Pour one and a half liters of water into the pan, add a glass of honey, a cinnamon stick, a piece of fresh ginger, 3 buds of dry cloves.

Bring to a boil, cook for 15 minutes, skimming off the foam.

Let it brew for half an hour, strain, serve hot.

orange juice

Squeeze juice from one large orange.

Boil a liter of water with 80 g of sugar and orange zest.

Cool, strain, pour in orange juice.

Dried fruits compote

Rinse 300 g of dried fruits, pour over with boiling water.

Boil 2 liters of water, add 0.5 cups of sugar, dried fruits, cinnamon stick, zest of one lemon (only the yellow part, the white will add bitterness to the drink).

Let it brew for a couple of hours, squeeze the juice of one lemon.

Video

In this video - a detailed recipe for carrot and beet cutlets.