Les Poissonchats

I find much beauty in the steadiness with which the seasons change, the invariability of change, it’s a wonderful idea to witness. It is my eight winter in France, my eight season in this land that I chose to become my home, and it never failed me. Not a single bleak grey dreary cold January day could ever fail me here.

Works have progressed at the castle in the past months, with the upstairs sun room now nearly finished and, most importantly, a walk in closet dream for me, which from now on officially deprives me of any chance to continue hoarding my clothes in heaps, no, henceforward they will forever be no less than neatly folded. For she who hath a walk in closet shall fold her clothes neatly.

Christmas and New Year’s have passed happily and gaily, with heaps of oysters, too many bottles of whatnot, and a fabulous Veal Filet Wellington. I enjoyed two full days of doing absolutely nothing at all but sit in my chair and let my gaze wander to the lands of imagination and dreams, besides the very nice view over the crab apple hedge at the end of the lawn outside the drawing room.

For months now I have a particular longing for my grandfather, a kind, nostalgic longing, and I often wonder what he’d say if he saw me now, if he’d approve. I think he would, at least I think he’d understand my choices. I baked Dampfnudeln the other day, a dish I know my grandmother used to make. It’s got nothing to do with noodles really, it’s sweet yeast dough and vanilla milk baked in an earthenware dish, very very simple, no chi chi, January kind of food. Nostalgic January kind of food. The how to is further down here.

With an eye on bookings and the summer months, here’s the available culinary retreats:

• 23 May to 25 May 2026 Arts&Antiques
• Thursday 18 June to Sunday 21 June 2026 La Fête de la Saint Jean
• Saturday 4 July to Thursday 9 July 2026 The Painter’s Workshop
• 20 August to 23 August 2026 Arts&Antiques

Availability for Bespoke Private Events:

• Between 27 May to 16 June
• 23 June to 2 July
• 11 July to 19 July
• 4 August to 18 August
• 25 August to 9 September
• 15 September to 11 October

Please get in touch with me via hello@lespoissonchats.com if you’re interested in joining. For B&B only stays please bear with me, slots for May will soon be opened.

What you’ll need

• 250g flour
• 10g dried yeast
• 1dl full fat milk
• A pinch of fleur de sel
• 50g sugar
• An egg
• 50g butter, melted
• Some more butter for buttering the baking dish

For the sauce:

• 2dl full fat milk
• 75g sugar
• Half a vanilla seed pot scraped out

How to bake it

Start with the yeast dough. I usually work with my stand mixer using the leaf or the kneading hook. Heat the milk to body temperature. Place flour and yeast in the bowl, add the salt and the sugar, start mixing and add the warm milk first, then the egg. Melt the butter and add, mix and knead until you get a soft elastic dough. Cover with a wet towel and let sit at room temperature until the dough will have doubled, this takes about 1-2 hours.

Take an ovenproof earthenware dish, I used my smallest gratin dish which is about 30cm long and 20cm wide. Generously butter on all sides, this will make it easier for the Dampfnudeln to get out. Divide the dough into eight equal parts and form into little balls, place in the dish. Let sit in a warm spot for another half an hour. Heat the milk with the sugar and the vanilla seeds until it starts simmering, so the sugar fully dissolves.

Pre heat the oven to 180°C. Pour half of the sauce over the Dampfnudeln and bake for 30 minutes. When baking time is over, take the dish out of the oven. Now this is the crucial part: gently tear the balls apart with the help of a fork, then add the rest of the sauce and bake for another 5-7 minutes.

How you eat it

Warm, definitely, just the moment before it’s fully cooled out. With a nice cup of tea maybe or some freshly brewed coffee. Happy January!