Winter at the Castle

I've come to quite look forward to these quarterly, seasonal updates on what happens at the castle, naturally hoping you like reading them as much as I do like writing them.

We only had a little snow this year but it was magical. Now with the castle closed for visits until spring, I cook for friends and for ourselves mostly, everyday cooking, that is. We had a splendid Christmas with family and friends, just like in the storybook, with warm lights, candles lit and a traditional Christmas dinner. Then on to New Year, spent with my darling Lars, just the two of us indulging in the luxuriest of luxuries including lobster. Lots of wine too. January was quiet with me spending most of my time researching the castle history, I won't bore you with any details, though I for myself am completely captivated and could very well bury myself in the archives for weeks on end. Now over half way through February, besides starting to tidy the park and making firewood for next winter, we slowly resume the renovation works.

We put in a new old marble fireplace in my future study and worked on the wiring. We also removed the old floor which was meekly rotting away, to prepare the ground for the oak boards that will go in later. I'm glad the worst of the dusty work is over and we can now turn to less messy work. Lars is a little worried for the room seems to take forever to get finished but then, I say, all good things take time, and though I look forward to have a proper space for my office things, I must say that I'm just as comfortable in the kitchen. Give me a room, six cats and a stove and I'll be perfectly alright.

I clear my desk each day at 11am and start preparing lunch, rustic things mostly, soups and stews and the odd pasta with smoked trout. The other day I tried a chaudrée, kind of a soupy fish stew, a staple in the Charente area in the west of France, where the flatlands reach into the sea. I had some nice lobster broth left over from New Years Eve and needed something to do with it, a chaudrée seemed just the right thing for it. It's usually made with whatever fish you can get your hands on and maybe some mussels and perhaps some shrimps, just according to what tastes good and is available in good quality. I also added some of my homemade citrons confits, I've written up the how to for the chaudrée for you further down.

We also made a little escape to the town of Dole, about an hour's drive from here. Dole was, a looooong time ago, the capital of this area. It's such a quaint little town and remarkably well preserved, and I bored Lars out of his wits with my ramblings on historic events, sieges and the who is who from 1641. We then went for a Tango lesson by a friend of a friend (the world, incidentally, is a small place), which was great fun, followed by dinner at our friend the winemaker on our way back home. What a day.

Now here's to how to for the Chaudrée.

What you'll need

• A dash of cold pressed rapeseed oil

• Winter vegetables, according to availability - I used onions, leeks, potatoes, celery, carrots and a couple of fresh spinach leaves

• 2dl of dry white wine, I used a Chardonnay from Orane Henriot in Champlitte

• One bay leaf

• Some sprigs of tarragon and fennel herb - I luckily had some left in the freezer

• 2dl of lobster broth or any similar base, such as mussels, fish, crab or shrimp

• Sea salt and white ground pepper for seasoning

• 1 white fish fillet, I got some fresh Atlantic hake fish

• 1 pink fish fillet, I used salmon

• 2 generous tablespoons of creme fraiche

• A couple of nice big shrimps

• 1/2 a citron confit

• Note I seasoned the lobster broth with piment d'espelette back when I prepared it. You may or may not want to add it separately if your broth doesn't contain any

How to cook it

Chop the vegetables into big chunks so they won't disintegrate in the stew. Heat a dash of oil in a wide pan and place the vegetables except the spinach leaves, add the bay leaf and herbs and saute for a couple of minutes at medium temperature, season with salt and pepper and deglaze with the wine. Bring to boil, add the lobster broth and reduce the temperature. Cook the vegetables, it will take about 20 - 30 minutes until they are done, depending on which variety of potatoes you chose. About 10 minutes before they are cooked, add the spinach leaves and place the fish on top, slather the creme fraiche on the fillets and cook for no longer than 10 minutes, then add the shrimps and cook for another two minutes.

Gently arrange on plates, add some of the broth and serve with a slice of citron confit.

How to eat it

When it's cold outside and in winter's silence you imperceptibly yearn for the sounds of the winter sea, waves unremittingly rolling in at the bay, the cries of seagulls in a world of muted blues and greys and pearl. It's the taste of a seaside town after the tourists have gone back home to their lives, of chairs stacked in high towers on the terraces of the cafes, a pair of locals sitting behind salt streaked windows, eating a bowl of chaudrée, contented of having their place back for a while, enjoying the tastes of the food and warmth and shelter, while outside the wind is rising. Enjoy!