On the grounds at Chaumont

The property at the Château de Chaumont is, like most of the big Loire Valley castles, quite extensive. There is a large park done in the English style, a large stable complex, gardens, and a small "village" of farm buildings. In addition to a fancy kitchen garden, there is also a children's garden, an indoor tropical greenhouse, and a rather large exhibition garden. The latter has a theme each year and gardeners from around the world are invited to create an entry.

Part of the out-building complex. There are art exhibits, meeting rooms, and a cafe in these renovated buildings.

The big exhibition garden had just closed down for the year when we visited, so we missed it. But there is plenty of other stuff to see. Since it was the end of October, the groundskeepers had scattered pumpkins and gourds all around the property. The little gourds on sticks were planted everywhere.

The little gourds on sticks cracked me up.

Stained glass at Chaumont

This is one of the stained glass windows in the chapel of the Château de Chaumont. The chapel is built into the end of the northeastern wing overlooking the river. It's very small with ceilings high enough that there is a small balcony on the second level that provided a private worship space when needed.

I suspect (but am not at all certain) that the balcony was provided for members of the royalty so that they wouldn't have to mix with other members of the household. On a nice sunny day like the one we had, the windows are magnificent.

I believe that the red and yellow coat of arms at the bottom of the window belongs to the House of Amboise that occupied the castle for more than four centuries. The coat of arms often includes interlaced letters "C" at the top, although they're not shown in this version. The letters can also be seen carved in stone on the exterior walls of the castle. They represent Charles I and Charles II (father and son) de Chaumont d'Amboise, the lords of the castle and its lands.

Charles I was counselor to the king in the mid fifteenth century and served as governor of Champagne and Burgundy. His son became the lord of Chaumont in his turn and served as a royal knight as well as the king's ambassador to Milan.

The castle tower that you see at the top of the window looks similar to, but not exactly like, the actual castle towers, so I wonder if it is indeed a representation of the Chaumont castle or of some other place.

As to who the people depicted might be, I have no idea. I will have to go back one day to get the brochure, which might tell me. I looked in my large collection of brochures from local attractions and, curiously, I could not find one from Chaumont. But I do have several from Cheverny, Chambord, and Chenonceau.

It's cooling down

Or mild weather is ending. We may be seeing freezing temperatures by the weekend. So sights like this one may be more common on our morning walks.

Frost on stinging nettles. These plants will die back once it gets a bit colder.

I did go a few days without building the daily fire during the Thanksgiving week, but yesterday I was back at it. Which means that I will clean out the stove this morning to prep for today's fire. We're also getting a fuel-oil delivery today which should take us through the winter. We use the central heating in the mornings to warm up the house, then the fire in the afternoon to keep it comfortable.

Another Chaumont interior

This may be the most furnished room in the Château de Chaumont. I don't have the brochure we got when we visited, so I can't really tell you much about it. The room is on the ground floor at the north end of the western wing and has windows on three sides.

A very pretty room at Chaumont castle.

These windows look northward over the Loire River. It was when I was taking this picture that I noticed the smudge on the lens and cleaned it off. Then I re-took the photos in this room. Unfortunately, most of the prior photos are smudged.

Walt's pumpkin pie

I like pumpkin pie and try to make at least one during the holiday season. My pie doesn't resemble the very sweet, highly spiced pies I remember in the US. I cut down on the sugar and spices so that the taste of the pumpkin comes through.

A mini-version of the pie that I made with the leftover filling from the larger pie.

This year I used a butternut squash that I grew in the garden. In past years I've grown pumpkins and used them, but butternut works just as well and has a similar flavor. You could even use sweet potatoes in place of the squash. So here's my modified recipe:

Walt's pumpkin pie

• 2 cups roasted pumpkin pulp (or butternut, red kuri, or other similar squash), see below
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream (I mix cream with non-fat milk for a lighter pie)
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup loosely packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves or 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest*
• 1 pie crust

A day or two before you make the pie, roast a pumpkin or squash by cutting it in half, removing the seeds, putting the halves face-down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then baking them at 350ºF (180ºC) for about half an hour or until the flesh is tender. When the roasted squash is cool, scoop out the flesh and refrigerate it until needed.

Preheat oven to 425ºF (210ºC).

Mix sugars, salt, spices, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and yolk and add to the bowl. Stir in the pumpkin. Stir in the cream. Whisk all together until well incorporated. I used a stand mixer for this step.

Pour the mixture into a partially baked pie shell (blind bake with pie weights for about 20 minutes then let cool while mixing the pie filling). Bake the filled pie at 425ºF (210ºC) for about 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350º (180ºC) and bake another 30 to 40 minutes until the filling is set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Don't over-bake the pie; the surface will dry out and cracks will form.

If there is any filling left over, you can make mini-pies with leftover crust, or just bake the filling without crust in buttered ramekins. The filling will keep a day or two in the fridge if you're not ready to use it right away.

Cool the pie on a rack before serving with whipped cream. In France, I use un-whipped crème fraiche with a little brown sugar added to lightly sweeten it.

*I didn't have any lemon zest when I made the pie, so I substituted 1/4 tsp freshly ground coriander seeds. I ground them with a mortar and pestle, but you can use a spice grinder if you have one. The fresh seeds add a nice lemony flavor in place of fresh lemon zest.

Another dining room at Chaumont

This dining room is more modern than the last one I showed you, and probably where the last castle owners held their dinner parties (I'm only guessing here). It's on the ground floor of the castle in one of the wings that doesn't include the royal apartments.

The table is set!

I'm glad you enjoyed yesterday's recipe. Here's the recipe I used for the savory mini cannelés.

Les cannelés bordelais salés

• 25 cl milk
• 30 g butter
• 1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 50 g all purpose flour
• salt and pepper
• your choice of garnish

Bring the milk and butter to a boil. In a large bowl, mix the flour, egg, and egg yolk until combined (I used a stand mixer). Incorporate the hot milk/butter little by little while mixing vigorously. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mix into the batter whatever garnish you're using. I made two different kinds, so I divided the batter into two equal parts. In the first half, I added 25 g of grated Cantal cheese and 40 g of finely chopped cooked crispy bacon. In the second half, I added 25 g of finely crumbled Roquefort cheese and 25 g chopped toasted walnuts.

Pour the batter into mini cannelé molds (I have a silicone mold that makes 15 cannelés; I think you could also use a mini muffin mold). Fill the molds to 2/3 full. Bake in a preheated 210ºC (410ºF) oven. I actually turned the oven down to 200ºC after the first five minutes. Bake for 20 minutes. keep an eye on them so they don't get over done. Let them cool a little, turn them out of the molds onto a rack to let them cool completely. The cannelés will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a day or two and can be re-heated to crisp them up before serving.

My mold makes 15 cannelés, so I made batches. The recipe says it's for 30 mini cannelés, but I actually got 42 in total. You can also experiment with the garnishes. Some ideas include smoked salmon/dill, mozzarella/sun dried tomato/basil, chopped olives, and chopped foie gras/fig.

More roofs and chimneys

These are on the Château de Chaumont, seen from inside the castle's courtyard. I was pointing the camera nearly into the sun, which is why the light is a little funky.

I think the chimneys are particularly ornate.

Most of the trees on our property have now dropped all their leaves. We've got to get outside and get them up before they begin to rot on the ground. Joy.

Some of you asked for a couple of the recipes from our Thanksgiving meal. I wish I had photos of everything I made to go along with them. Here's the first, for the caramelized onions we served with the duck pâté. It's more a technique than a recipe, so you can mess around with the ingredients to your liking.

Confit d'oignions au miel (onion preserves with honey)

• 300 g white onions (I used standard yellow onions)
• 100 g honey
• 25 cl white wine vinegar or cider vinegar (I used about 2/3 of this amount)
• zest of one lemon
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 cloves (or 1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground cloves or allspice)
• 1 small red chili pepper (or 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper)
• 1/2 tsp salt

Peel and thinly slice the onions. Slice chili pepper.

In a saucepan, bring to a boil the vinegar, honey, cloves, chili pepper, and lemon zest. Add the onions and salt and let them cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and let cook another 30 minutes, or until the most of the liquid is gone. Don't let the onions brown. Let cool completely before serving.