a MAGYC PIE...

There are pies and there are PIES.

There is magic and there is MAGYC.

And yes, this is a bonafide, real, authentic MAGYC PIE.

Over the years, I have dabbled in savoury pies as the visual and gustatory homage to Monsieur Monet’s painted pies here, here and here, of course!

But this week as Fran and Ian from Melbourne, and Hilary from Sonoma, and Matt from Welbeck descend on the Chapolard home for lunch, we’ll be bringing this fat MAGYC PIE with us.  MAGYC stands for Mastering the Art of Gascon Cooking (with a nod to Julie Child’s masterful book). What’s in this golden-crusted succulent pie? Read on…

This MAGYC week of Gascon food is a 4-day winter exploration from Farm to Market to Kitchen. We swooped into Lavardac market on Wednesday and filled our baskets with: a guinea hen or pintade, a stewing hen, 2 demoiselles or duck carcasses some pork sausage, fresh foie gras, thinly sliced jambon de campagne and enough vegetables to make a rich stock- carrots, onion, celery, leeks, garlic, bay, thyme.

Less a recipe than a blueprint- we built the pie like this:

• boned the pintade then reserved the breasts and thighs.
• make a rich and short bouillon with the carcasses of the duck, pintade and the stewing hen.
• seasoned the 500 gr of pork sausage meat and pintade & chicken liver with onion, salt and pepper.
• deveined the foie gras