The Feast of St. Anne and St. Joachim (Menu and Recipes)

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared about it here at Carrots, but celebrating the liturgical year is one of the ways that why try to live out our faith. This is the menu and recipes we have used in the past to celebrate The Feast of St. Anne and St. Joachim coming up on July 26th. Enjoy!

About the Saints:

St. Anne and St. Joachim are the mother and father of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the grandparents of Our Lord. Having been barren for 20 years, St. Anne gave birth to the Blessed Virgin at age 40. Her Hebrew name, Hanna, is the same as Hannah in the Old Testament and their stories mirror one another.

In this image painted by Giotto, St. Anne and St. Joachim (age 40 and 69), kiss and embrace after being told separately by angels that they are pregnant with a daughter who will be consecrated to God. They are the patron saints of parents and grandparents and St. Anne is the patron saint of homemakers and women in labor.

About the food:

Because shellfish is a traditional food to prepare on St. Anne’s Day and Brittany is a region particularly devoted to St. Anne, Daniel chose to prepare a dish from that region: moules marinières or Mariner’s Mussels.

Moules Marinières:

Mussels in the shell – 1 pound

Shrimp – 1 pound (Get Gulf Shrimp if you live near Florida!)

Butter -3 tablespoons

Onion, finely chopped — 1

Garlic, minced — 3 cloves

White wine — 1 cup (Muscadet would be most authentic but Sauvignon Blanc will work fine)

Parsley, finely chopped — 1/4 cup

Tomatoes – 1 Large or 2-3 smaller ones, diced

Salt and pepper — to taste

Peel the shrimp and wash the mussels, scrubbing them to remove the “beard.” Heat the butter in a large pot. Saute the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Stir in the tomato and parsley. Add the mussels, shrimp, and wine, stirring gently so as not to break the shells. Cover the pot and let it steam for a minute or two. Stir about every minute so the shrimp will cook evenly. Season with salt and pepper. It should be ready in about 4-5 minutes. Make sure to save the sauce to dip bread in. Technically, moules marinières should be just mussels but some people don’t exactly love them so we added shrimp to be safe.

He also found a recipe for Gateau Sainte-Anne, a traditional cake from the Alsace region, in Cooking with the Saints. We simplified the recipe a little bit.

Cake:

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp. dark rum

2 cups flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

1 cup butter

1 cup grated chocolate

1 cup ground almonds

1 tsp vanilla

Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tbsp milk

1 tbsp rum

1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350. With an electric beater, blend eggs and sugar until frothy. Add rum and flour mixed with baking powder. Blend in rest of ingredients.

Grease and flour your cake pan and fill with the mixture. Bake for 50 minutes or until done.

Mix the ingredients for the icing. Add more powdered sugar or more rum until the consistency is right.

Girls named after St. Anne traditionally wore red and green ribbons in their hair on her feast day and we had some beautiful tomatoes in our garden so we made an arugula and tomato salad with goat cheese from a local dairy.

We served the shellfish dish over sliced baguette with roasted potatoes. Yum.

And you might want to invite some grandparents over since St. Anne and St. Joachim are the patron saints of grandparents!

There is a beautiful novena to St. Anne that can be said on the nine days preceding her feast (or at any other time):

O glorious St. Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present intention which I recommend to you in your special care.

Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.

Our Father, . . . Hail Mary . . .Glory Be

O Jesus, Holy Mary, St. Ann, help me now and at the hour of my death.

Good St. Ann, intercede for me.

Does your family have any special traditions for St. Anne’s Day?

You can find this yummy shellfish recipe and many others in our liturgical year cookbook Feast! Check it out here.