Meet A Farmer: Kate Hill – Camont Farm

AN AMERICAN CHEF, NOW A COOKING TEACHER IN FRANCE

 

I met this intriguing woman, this American living in France through Twitter. She was such an interesting person and had a story so compelling. Not only is she a chef living closer to the earth and contributing her talents beyond the kitchen in growing food, she has a retreat in an 18^th century farmhouse in Gascony, France, which I have since learned is a hot bed for culinary getaways, that educates and lights the fires of passion for food and where it comes from. She has flower gardens, animals, herbs and fruits and vegetables, but when referred to as a farmer she replies she thinks of her farm more as a garden gone out of control! She is a force and a grand dame of goodness, a raconteur of wonderfully painted word pictures in her cookbook (another one on the way) and can even take you virtually on a tour of this magnificent place.  Each time I read about it, it beckons me to come and steep myself in food and in this place that captured her and never let her go! I asked Kate many question about her life, the food, the programs, her opinions on how to live closer to the earth to get behind the curtain of this fascinating life tethered to nature and great food and teaching.

How Did You Find Yourself In France?

Cook, teacher, story teller. American by birth, French by kitchen. Stumbling along Europe’s quiet canals on an 85 foot Dutch barge, I ran into the remains of a historic farm in Southwest France – a hectare of land along the canal and two old stone ruins with barn. I tied the boat to two giant poplar trees and stayed over 20 years.

Tell me about Camont and its history?

The Gascon Kitchen at Camont is an echo of the 18th century farm it once was, calling to mind the sort of scrappy self-sufficient barnyard and higgly-piggly 300 yr old stone buildings married to a modern artisan cook’s garden. Bees love the roses climbing into Acacia trees and we let the wild watercress and mint run wild. The barn and its massive elm wood and stone stalls remind me of how many oxen it took to plow and tend the acres and acres of heavy fertile river valley soil. Camont sits at the bottom plains of hilltop Ste.Colombe-en-Bruilhois, anchoring the 1000 yr old stone village to the Garonne River. We are cradled by running water.

What inspired you to move there?

I didn’t so much move here to Gascony as I forgot to move away. A proposed couple of years of cruising on the Julia Hoyt turned into 20 plus of living in Southwest France. Why did I stay? The people – friendly, the food – abundant, fresh and delicious, the landscapes – like an Impressionist’s painting.

Tell me about the programs at Camont

I am always looking to develop new and pertinent cooking programs to reflect what people need and want. Now we do less of the ‘cooking school holiday’ programs and more in-depth apprenticeships on artisan food production – charcuterie, cheese, baking. This year we are adding an organic flower growing program to reflect the interest in buying local as well as organic.

Was it a hard readjustment from living on a barge to back on land?

I’ve only just been begun. The little farmhouse at Camont is solid and stable, anchored in the deep Gascon soil. But the canal and the trees along the towpath are just at the bottom of the garden gate and I travel, a lot.

How have the interests in food and cooking of your cooking students and retreat guests changed over recent years?

I left behind the Michelin star restaurant style of cooking some years ago to focus on the direct, simple and so satisfying traditional Gascon cuisine. Now, we cook even more directly from the garden, farm and neighboring producers. The focus is on establishing a Gascon palate – what makes this food Gascon? What makes it taste so good? How do we make that happen in California, Iowa, or Vancouver?

What do you grow on your farm?

More a “garden gone mad” than farm, we keep a dozen laying hens, a few Rouen ducks for meat, and a pair of lambs, also for meat. There are three, soon to be four organic gardens: the Grand Potager (for our staple vegetables – leeks, potatoes, garlic, beans, tomatoes, artichokes, peppers, eggplants, etc.) the Kitchen Terrace salad garden and herbier, the Tea Garden where we grow medicinal herbs and plants for tisanes and tea, and the new cutting flower garden designed and managed by a neighbor florist. All organic flowers and food.

How important is food in your community?

The Lot-et-Garonne department is the most diverse agricultural department in France. It is the main income for most of its residents so we watch the weather like hawks and boost of our fertile soil and abundant water sources. Farmer markets run year round several times a week in city and villages. I can be a locavore within 10 miles- it’s a perfect place to run a farm cooking school!

How do you think people regardless of where they live, can live closer to the earth?

I call my cooking ‘Close to the Earth Gastronomy” so for me it is a credo lived every day. Living closer to the earth is easy here in Gascony. The challenge is for those living in cities to keep aware of what surrounds them beyond the concrete framework. Learning the seasons can begin in the kitchen, shopping for good sources of food, do a little ‘guerrilla gardening’, plant a pot, take a walk. It’s all about being aware.

Why do you think this is important?

I can’t imagine life without knowing from which way the wind is blowing – figuratively and literally.

What is the future for Kitchen at Camont?

More. More of all of the above – a place for people to come together to learn about food, to celebrate the culinary arts and crafts, to continue learning at the root and source of our true French cooking. This year we build an apprentice cottage, and re roof the barn where we’ll make a space for students to sleep, a big meeting room and dance hall, an artist studio. Next my own little house to replace the barge as my private quarters.

Why do you think the garden is important to cooks?

Convenience aside, nothing is as good a reminder of planning ahead for what you want to cook. I plant tomatillos and hot peppers here because I love Southwest and Mexican cooking- so if I want to have a Mexican food this summer, I need to get those seeds started now!

What are the most important vegetables and herbs a cook should have in their garden?

I couldn’t cook without the Gascon trio of Thyme, Bay and Lovage. I also love chervil, basil and roquette and grow all sorts of herbs just outside the kitchen. Proximity is everything. Then leeks, tomatoes, hot peppers, pumpkins, courgettes and all sorts of squash for fall. And greens! Spinach, chard, kale, bok choy, and big curly savoy cabbage. Because I can buy so much locally, I try to concentrate on vegetables that are rare in France or shine when just picked.

Tell me about Gascony cooking

In a nutshell – robust! Farm-based on poultry, pork and game, the cooking of Southwest France mirrors its epic heros- D’Artagnan and the Musketeers, Henri IV, the local rugby team. But don’t misunderstand that hearty food lacks finesse. The vintage armagnacs of Gascony delicately perfume sauces as well as pastries. Slow braising good pork shoulder in herb-scented stock sweetened with golden prunes or poaching a stuffed farm chicken in a savoury vegetable laden broth until tender is as delicate in flavor as it is robust. We eat in courses, one thing after another. Meals begin with charcuterie, patés, savoury tourtes, then soup, always soup, something poached, something roasted and followed with fresh greens like chicory or endive for salad, buttery pastry and fruit tartes for the end. Oh and local wines- Buzet, Madiran, Cahors, Marmande followed by eau-de-vie and armagnacs. Gascon cooking is about feasting!

Tell me about your cookbook: A Culinary Journey in Gascony: Recipes and Stories from My French Canal Boat (Paperback). What inspired you to write this book?

All of the above! : ) This book was a love song to my long village – a way to share the people, places and food I discovered while cruising along the Canal de Garonne those early years. My favorite day to day recipes and the people who taught me are still a good introduction to Gascony. Now out of print, there are a few copies still available.

Any other cookbooks in the works or other plans to share your stories and recipes?

Of course! I am working with photographer and great friend Tim Clinch to create a new book about our mutual love of Gascony and the people who produce the food here. “Finding France: Butcher, Baker, Armagnac-maker” is about the people who turn dirt into food and keep our kitchens happy.

What is your hope for the future of the food we eat?

I am not a political creature. Rather, I prefer to work close to the bone – what can I touch? Who can I teach? What can I cook? I plant a garden; I cook that food. I buy from local farmers directly; I help keep them in business. I insist on the best quality I can afford and amend my purchases to reflect that. So if my budget is tight then we cook with great golden eggs from our flock. If I can, I buy wonderful cheese from Philippe Monneret and make that the star of the meal. A farm pork roast once a week and meatless meals once a day balance the big gastronomic picture.

What do you think is necessary to stimulate more people to return to real food?

Taste. Care. Nourishment. Food that taste good and carefully prepared nourishes body and soul. What more does one need to learn?

What is a typical day for you like on the farm?

HA! There is no typical day and that’s what I love about it. But each morning I usually am the first one up (there is always one or two working interns here) and I take Bacon (big Farm dog) for a walk to feed the chickens and let them into the park, feed the lambs, then the barn cat. Bacon and I return to the kitchen after checking out the towpath, the weather, the first blossoms and then make tea or coffee. The emails get looked at and urgent ones answered, and then the projects begin. This week as the weather allows we are fencing in the new organic cutting garden and starting planting in the potager. I am always eager to rush the seeds ahead of the weather And then being Saturday it’s off to the Market at Nerac, to shop, talk, and sip a café au lait in the café. That’s a weekly social ritual. Lunch at home returning from the market and then an afternoon at work on my US Frenchv PIG workshop tour before making dinner and a quiet night in.

Do you have a favorite spring time recipe to share with us?

To celebrate the arrival Spring and the first blossoms, I’ll make these Acacia flower fritters as soon as our trees blossom at the end of the month. This is a true seasonal recipe made only one time a year during the short flowering season when bees are busy collecting the nectar for Acacia Honey.

Interview by Angela Tunner

Beignets d’Acacias et Roses – Acacia and Rose Flower Fritters

You need:

Several handfuls of acacia blossoms just barely starting to open (the bees will have nicked all the nectar if they are fully opened !) and 2 very red roses (non-treated)

2 farm fresh eggs – separate whites and yolks

1 Cup Flour

1 Tablespoon Sugar

Pinch of salt

½+ Cup of milk

Dash orange flower water

Oil for frying- neutral like Canola (colza), grape seed or sunflower oils

Powdered sugar (icing sugar)

First:

Pick over the acacia flower bunches, it’s okay to leave some stem and leaf on; pluck the petals off the roses and tear the petals into small strips. I use the fragrant and meaty “Chrysler imperial” roses growing on the garden shed. Theya re the first to bloom in early May when the acacias bloom. Set aside.

Batter:

Beat egg yolks with a whisk, adding flour, sugar and salt. Whisk until smooth, add a dollop of the milk, beat into the batter, continue adding milk until the batter is consistency of a very thick cream, stir in flavoring and rose petals. Beat egg whites until they hold a peak then stir into one third of the mixture until well blended. Then fold in the remaining egg whites. Because I use my fabulous free range eggs, the batter is a beautiful golden yellow color.

Cooking:

Dip freshly picked acacia blossom bunches into the batter then into the waiting hot oil. Turn when golden, continue cooking then remove and let drain on some paper toweling. Dust with powdered sugar and eat straight away! It’s like eating the garden.

An alternate method is to pull the blossoms off the stems and stir in handfuls of the blossoms, then drop the batter by spoonfuls into the hot oil. You can try making tiny flower size drops and drizzling them with Acacia blossom honey.Then go take a nap in the hammock under the buzzing trees and feel like a part of spring!

Or serve with Rose petal marmalade.

Visit Kate Online:

http://kitchen-at-camont.com/

Twitter  – @KatedeCamont

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