SPRING

My Gascon neighbors call Spring- le saison d’amour the season of love. This morning, this too cold February morning and Valentine’s Day, I found my sweetheart present on the ground outside the chicken coop. Not one, but TWO fat white translucent-shelled duck eggs and the Spring promise of Easter ducklings and next Fall’s Duckfest here at Camont.

When I was a girl, my mother had a funny way of nagging us to clean our rooms. She called mine- The Lazy ‘K’  Ranch and warned me that I would need a maid when I grew up. (Thanks Mom for the tip!). But being lazy in the kitchen can be a good thing. One day… 20 years after I started out on this European Culinary Adventure, I understood that the real art in being Lazy with a capital ‘K’ was knowing when a recipe worked effortlessly, elegantly and easily. I call these the Gascon Kitchen Basix- the recipes I cook and teach everyday, year-round at Camont. So know when you see the ‘Basix’  key, you can take a page from my ‘Running the Lazy ‘K” Ranch’ workbook and whip up a French Supper for friends …or even votre amant.

Ducks are lazy, too. At the beginning of laying their clutch, they drop their eggs wherever they are sleeping. They lay mostly at night. I can imagine they hate to move when nature calls to the nice secure sheltered nest pen we built last year. However, their feathered neighbors, eleven productive hens and a busy rooster- Henri, conveniently lay our daily gift in one tidy pile in the shelter of the blue coop. So day in and day, even when it’s not Valentine’s Day, we harvest a basket of extraordinarily fresh, deep yellow-yolked, naturally organic hen’s eggs. Eggs. French eggs. My Gascon deep yellow yolked French eggs from Camont’s happy chickens. This is where the most basic of Basix recipes start.

‘Basix’ are the simple recipes I learned from French housewives and farm neighbors.

Basix: good everyday dishes that we live on.

Basix: simple meals for family and friends.

Basix: fast food from fresh ingredients.

B A S I X . E G G S

In fact, every one of these Basix dishes stars just one basic ingredient and today it is all about the E G G. Enjoy this sweet breath of a Sunday omelet with your sweetheart or just for yourself! Inspired by Bonnie Walsh’s dad, who made Souffle-ed Omelets whenever we had a sleepover, I teach these golden clouds at Camont when students wake on Sunday Morning. The first grumbles of beating the whites by hand with whisk and copper bowl, turn to amazed admiration for the marshmallow-soft stiff peaks. Mr. Walsh used to bake them in shallow pie pans; I use a deeper terracotta dish and cook them a bit longer. Eh Voila! my own Valentine’s kiss to you.

BASIX Omelette Sucrée Souflée- serves 4

Heat oven to 400′F or 200′C.  Place a tablespoon of butter in a pie pan or oven proof clay dish. Place in hot oven until the butter melts. In the meantime make your omelet.

1. Take 6 very fresh eggs. Separate whites from yolks into 2 clean bowls.Yes, those yolks are really that color! happy chickens.
2. Whisk 3 Tablespoons sugar into yolks. Whisk until sugar is dissolved and yolks are ribbony.
3. Whisk egg whites in copper bowl. (Suck your stomache in when whisking for a bonus workout.)
4. Whisk eggs until the form a strong peak but not too dry.
5. Mix a large spoon full of whipped whites into the egg yolks then pour yolks onto whites.
6. Fold the whites into the yolks. Gently. A few ribbons of white in the gold is fine.

Pour eggs into the hot pan and place into the hot oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes until set. My finger-deep omelette took closer to 30 minutes. A thinner one might take just 15 min. Keep an eye on the oven! We served this melt in your mouth Sunday breakfast with some hot compote des pommes (applesauce) and marmalade covered toast. Perfect.

All these BASIX Eggy pix by http://www.erikajohnsonphoto.com/ Merci!