May in the French Countryside: Markets, Salade Niçoise, and Garden Cake

I’ve spent the last week enchanted by the magic of a true French country garden. Hidden behind a wall of poplar trees alongside the canal de Garonne near Agen, an edible oasis of flowers, herbs, and legumes winds around a sunny gravel path that leads to a stone floor kitchen. Here, writers and cook’s gather for clarity, taste local French cuisine, and share stories by the fire. Relais de Camont pulls you from the hum of the city towards the calmness of the countryside.

A wooden fence curves around the garden like an old xylophone, serving more to train vines than to create a barrier. The cowbell hanging from the crooked gate, signals to the curly-coated tail wagging greeter that you’ve arrived. Welcome to the green snow globe — inside roses bloom and cottonweed seeds blow through the air like winter flurries.

Relais de Camont

Kate Hill

, an incredibly talented professional cook, writer, and passionate teacher, is the proprietor of this special residency in the south of France. She opens her intimately decorated and timeless farmhouse full of inspiration to those embarking on a creative journey.

I haven’t lived in the countryside for many years, but just a few moments at a weathered table conjured a reel of memories, highlighting the springs of my past. I’m deeply grateful to be making new memories in this seasonal garden, cooking in the adjoining 18th-century kitchen, and connecting with fellow passionate enthusiasts.

My loose agenda for a week at Camont is simple — take long walks along the canal every morning, visit the local markets, test a few recipes, write, read, then a nap in the afternoon.

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Wednesday Lavardac Market

The true gift of any French town is its open-air market—tables overflowing with local produce, freshly baked goods, every kind of meat imaginable, and a dazzling array of cheeses. I’ve grown accustomed to shopping outside, canvas totes in hand, as I browse wooden bins in search of recipe inspiration. Occasionally, I set out with a rough idea of what to buy, but more often, I let the available aliments shape the menu.

Try my Rotisserie Chicken Salad recipe.

The Lavardac market is small yet abundant, offering everything from live laying hens and white asparagus to bundles of radishes and whole rabbits. With a pain aux raisins in hand, remember it’s best not to grocery shop on an empty stomach—I soon stumbled upon several boxes brimming with large haricots pallette, long, flat green beans. A few steps away were gorgeous oval radishes next to small golden pomme de terre. It’s settled then, a Salade Niçoise for lunch.

I’ve recently learned that Salade Niçoise purists exist and there are do’s and don’t when it comes to tin fish with potatoes. So, to stay safe, I’ll just call this one “Niçoise-inspired”... or better yet, “Niçoise-adjacent.”

I also picked up a small tub of olives, a head of garlic, fresh parsley, and a perfectly ripened tomato. The rest was waiting for me back in the country garden—lush lettuce leaves reaching toward the sun, edible flowers, freshly laid eggs dropped off by a neighbor. All of this, of course, paired with the staples that fill any French kitchen: anchovies, tuna, and lemon.

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Salade Niçoise

• 1 large ripe tomato (cut into wedges)

• 8 French radishes (tops trimmed and thinly sliced into rounds)

• 1/2 cup pitted niçoise or kalamata olives

• 2 hard boiled eggs (peeled and cut in half)

• 10 small waxy potatoes (boiled until tender and cooled)

• 12 large flat green beans or 24 haricot verts (blanched until crisp-tender and cooled)

• 4 oil-packed anchovies

• 8-ounces canned tuna, packed in olive oil

• 2 cups baby green lettuce leaves

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• 1/2 cup chopped parsley

• 1 large garlic clove (grated)

• juice of half a lemon

• salt and black pepper to taste

1. Start by boiling the potatoes until just tender. Drain and toss them with a little olive oil and fleur de sel. Set aside to cool.

2. Cut large beans into 2-inch pieces, regular haricot verts can stay whole. Boil the green beans until tender (2-3 minutes). Drain and plunge into cold water. Drain again, and transfer to a kitchen towel to gently pat dry.

3. Whisk together the oil, vinegar, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper to make a quick vinaigrette.

4. On a plate or platter, arrange the baby lettuce across the plate. Then, place the tomatoes, green beans, and potatoes into three groups. Fill in the gaps with tuna, hard boiled egg halves, radishes, and olives. Place the anchovies on the egg slices for a little dramatic effect.

5. Spoon the vinaigrette across the veggies and tuna.

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Garden Cake

How often do you gather flowers for baking a cake? I think we should do this more often. On Thursday, I decided to test a reverse creaming technique on a vanilla layer cake with homemade elderflower syrup, lemon curd, and acacia blossoms. A little spring gateaux all dressed for a garden party, complete with greenery and an acacia sash.

I started by gathering elderflower blossoms and steeped them in a hot simple syrup for several hours. Then, I made a quick whole egg lemon curd to spread between the cake layers.

Grab my lemon curd recipe.

Onto the reverse creamed batter, flour and sugar are mixed together before adding in the butter, followed by the eggs and milk. Two cups of fragrant acacia petals were folded into the cake batter before baking. The cake tops were lightly trimmed before adding an elderflower syrup glaze.

For the assembly of my little afternoon project I whipped up a quick vanilla buttercream frosting, and dressed her as if she were attending the 2024 garden themed Met Gala (‘Garden of Time’), but you know, a bit more laid back.

One more test in the kitchen and I’ll share the full recipe soon. *Updated, here is the link to my Lemon & Elderflower Cake Recipe.

Elderflower and Acacia Blossoms

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Elderflower Simple Syrup

• 450 grams (2 1/4 cups) granulated Sugar

• 480 grams (2 cups) water

• juice of 1 lemon

• 15 heads (3 cups) elderflower blossoms

1. Pick open white elderflower blossoms, remove any stems or leaves, shake or rinse off lightly to remove any debris.

2. Place blossoms in a large glass mason jar.

3. Heat sugar and water in small saucepan on medium heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar has completely dissolved.

4. Once liquid reaches a soft boil, remove from the heat.

5. Pour the warm syrup into the jar over the elderflower blossoms. Add the lemon juice and cover with a lid.

6. Let steep for several hours an up to 2 days. The liquid will turn a murky yellow color.

7. When ready to use, strain the liquid through a wire mesh sieve and discard the blossoms.

8. Store in mason jar or bottle with a lid for up to 2 months in the fridge.

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Saturday Nérac Market

I find Medieval towns to be quite romantic, with little bridges, gothic churches, and winding streets. Known for its foie gras and the Chateau of Henry IV, Nérac this weekend however was most popular for its strawberries. Only a few steps into the market’s borders and I had passed three palettes of strawberries toted by outstretched arms.

It wasn’t too long after, that I too turned over my upper body endurance — happily carrying my packed tray of 7 barquettes, loaded with red berries for 13€.

A good salesman knows how to seal the deal. I simply asked for three barquettes of the deep red strawberries, but was met with an “are you sure?”, “taste them”. Swiftly presented with two speratately colored berries, I bit into the first with an instant recognition of, yep that’s a ripe strawberry — followed by a bite of the second which quickly exploded floral sensations across my tongue. Oh! Well, I guess I’ll take the 7 for 13€ of the second option, the ‘Ciflorettes’, s'il vous plaît!

Aromatic and slightly orange in color, the Ciflorette fraise is available May through June. These high-end berries are super juicy, with a good balance of sweetness. Perfect for a confiture or tart. At least, that’s what I kept telling the basket vendor each time he asked me if I was going to eat all of those berries myself. You know what? Maybe I am!

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