Raspberry and Nectarine Clafoutis

 

Last week every time I opened the fridge I was greeted with a huge variety of berries and stone fruit. Packed in various boxes I had everything from blueberries to gooseberries, from nectarines to mirabelles. It was a delight for me to say the least.

The reason for an over bulging fridge full of summer fruit was simply because at this time of year all my friends’, neighbors’ and also my in-laws’ gardens are bursting at the seams with a delicious plethora of berries, fruit and veggies. Knowing that I have a food blog makes them put 1 and 1 together and I am often greeted with a basket full of something pleasant when I arrive from work. I never say no! The advantages of having a food blog are many but this is one that I just love.Giggle! 

In return however, each generous and very charitable friend, neighbor and my dearest in-laws get to sample the creation I make with their wonderful donations.

Last week was definitely the week of the clafoutis! Clafoutis, clafouti. Clafoutis, clafouti – it makes me happy just saying it. Try it – kla-FOO-tee! See what I mean? So imagine if just saying it makes one elated, what it does when one actually has the pleasure to taste it.

Clafoutis is that wonderful French custard-like dessert made by baking fresh fruit and a batter very similar to pancake batter in the oven and indulged in when still warm. Traditionally it is made with cherries and purists will say anything else is not a clafoutis but a flognarde.

Since it’s so easy to whip up, this is the perfect quick dessert to impress all your dinner guests with. What could be better than delicious fruit baked till the juices ooze out and fuse with the thick creamy batter to produce a delectable custardy cake-like sweet treat.

As clafoutis is something to be enjoyed while still warm it really tastes best made at home, or maybe ordered at a restaurant.

So last week got me doing the clafoutis! I made clafoutis three times to use up my fruit and veggies. I made two different types of sweet clafoutis and tried my hand at a savory variety of the clafoutis. I’ll be sharing all with you in the next few weeks.

This one is a basic clafoutis recipe, but because I wanted to thank my neighbors for their raspberries and nectarines I decided to be a little generous and added a bit of cream to the batter for a richer taste. As I also had a lot of red currents I added a very small handful.

Raspberry and Nectarine Clafoutis

[Printable version of recipe here]
[Recipe serves approx. 6]
Ingredients

250g raspberries, washed and dried
250g nectarines, sliced
small handful red currents (optional)
95g all-purpose flour, sifted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 vanilla bean, insides scraped 
60g fine sugar
235ml milk
60ml thick whipping cream
50g butter, melted
icing sugar

Method

1. Brush a large oven proof dish or 6 small shallow ramekins with some of the melted butter.
   
   

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
   
   

3. Fill the dish or dishes with the fruit in a single and set aside.
   
   

4. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla and cream until smooth. Pour in the melted butter and mix until incorporated making sure not to overbeat.
   
   

5. Pour the batter over the fruit and bake for 30 – 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
   
   

6. Dust generously with icing sugar and serve warm.

My favorite way to serve clafoutis is with a nice scoop of good vanilla ice cream. But we also enjoy it with vanilla sauce. You can also serve it with whipped vanilla flavored cream, a dollop of crème frâiche, or clotted cream. 

 

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Verdict

There you see – no dessert could be simpler. I really like the way this fruit and veggie exchange for a dish works. I get homegrown produce and in return make a little something for the generous people. There is always enough not only for us but actually to feed the neighborhood!

Furthermore, through these clafoutis, the neighbor on top of the hill got to taste the raspberries from the neighbor down the road and they in return got a taste of the juicy nectarines. And so this is how we spread our love for food like a magic sparkle throughout the neighborhood. These were thoroughly enjoyed by both sets of neighbors, Tom and myself. And as we know word of mouth travels a lot faster, it was not long before I had blueberries, red currents and gooseberries on my doorstep the next day – but that is another story or should I say dessert! ;-)

You might like these berrylicious desserts from WFLH:

Berries on Lemon Buttermilk Mousse	Raspberry Dream Cream	Strawberry Mascarpone Mille Feuille

Reminder!

Monthly Mingle

This month my guest host for the Monthly Mingle is Hillary from the grand blog Chew on That and she has chosen a sensational theme. I’m very excited about this one – Marvelous Melon!

Create any dish using one of the juicy melon variety and send you dish over to Hillary. Check out all the details on the Marvelous Melon announcement page.

Deadline is August 17th. Hope you’ll be joining us!

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