MAGYC Pies at Camont

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…

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wednesdays at welbeck: autumn has sprouted

Back to school clothes. Blustery bright weather. A turn in the garden.

Arriving this week  with a suitcase of sweater/jumpers for the beginning of a year of practical butchery & charcuterie classes at the School of Artisan Food was like taking a peek into the past. Nervous/excited students joined nervous/excited teachers, all eager to get their hands into the daily work that will occupy them for the next 10 months. Back to school. Autumn. A new year begins.

As a cook, I look to the garden to help reset my calendar, to reboot my year so that when October & November arrive, I am ready for the longer nights, the colder days, and the work at hand. when I asked a student who was heading over to the farm shop to pick up some vegetables for me for dinner (we already had the makings of a pork tenderloin from today’s class), they arrived fresh on the stalk… by special delivery.

It didn’t take long for a bike load of Brussel sprouts to become a tasty companion to our freshly butchered pork. Recipe? Just half a sliced onion and the sprouts sauteed in some Devon butter and olive oil with fresh thyme, salt and pepper finished with a squeeze of lime.

With the school year starting like this, I look forward to more velo-driven rewards from Welbeck’s Farmshop to accompany the talented Mr. Viv Harvey’s teaching results…

harvest tarte in few words…

Two tartes.

One with goat’s cheese; one without.

A gathering of fruit from Camont- half a dozen last figs, handful of grapes from the arbor, several walnuts fresh from the trees.

A buttery crust bound with an egg cradles a base of fresh goat’s cheese, egg and sugar; or just half a jar of quince/orange preserves.

Popped in a hot oven 200′C/425′F for 25 minutes. Don’t forget a sprinkle of sugar across the top. Perfect for a sunny fall lunch.

This is another version of the tarte that Mrs. Wheelbarrow wrote about here. It’s that time of season here.

Result: One happy Camp Cassoulet Camper at Camont!

Hurricane Soup- don’t forget your duck confit!

I was just going to call this Workday Soup- a 20-minute solution to feeding a small crew at Camont. I’ve been working on my homework for SAF  (actually, my homework will be your homework, you lucky Butchery & Charcuterie students who begin next month!). I hate to get interrupted when working on tables and calendars. When the Noon siren blew from the nearby village spire, I just started shouting cooking advice into the kitchen. Cut up some potatoes! Chop up that Ventreche into lardons! Throw it in a pan with the duck fat!

Twenty minutes or so later, the potatoes were creamy and tender, the duck fat broth was golden rich, and a jar containing an solitary confited duck breast was popped in a pan to warm through, crisp up and garnish the steamy thyme and bay infused broth. Eh Voila!

This is the sort of nourishing and soothing meal that might help in a hurricane ravaged moment- grab a sack of potatoes, a jar of duck confit and your sterno stove. To all my dear friends and family in Irene’s path, I dub this soup for you!

ps- don’t have any duck confit in the larder? I still have one place open on the October 3 Confit Course -http://kitchen-at-camont.com/programs/cookery/dig-in/cassoulet-confit-coq-au-vin/.

Recipe for a Small Terrine of Joie- la Neracaise

Last night, as the kitchen crew began to lose control between increasingly large portions of truffle-related wonders, Jack uttered a solitary phrase as I suggested we taste the fruits of our week’s labors- a recreation of a historic hunting-inspired terrine favored by Henri IVth.

“Let’s taste Kate’s small terrine of joy”.

The Small Terrine of Joy- henceforward referred to simply as STJ- had been resting on the counter perfuming the air above and around that corner of the kitchen, wafting up the stairs and sneaking under the pigeonnier’s chambres with a heady hint of forest and field elevated to a sublime taste of… game, pork,and veal bound by truffleness.

Less a recipe than a celebration of special ingredients, bound by traditional respect for lean and fat, natural flavor and added seasoning, we began with an idea and ended up with delicious mouthful of succulent savory textures that played between toothsome and tender as foie gras melted onto truffles under a lean strip of marinated pheasant.

This is a lesson in cooking, as we let the ingredients dictate how we treat them, slow or high heat, moist, covered or browning. This is not a recipe of proportions or weights; this is an afternoon of friendship and inspiration manifested at the table and on our plates in the Kitchen-at-Camont. For Tim Clinch’s lovely take on this: http://timclinchphotography.tumblr.com/post/3561477421/the-small-terrine-of-joy-actually-a-terrine