Last month Sharon and I visited a language school in France. One of the social events we attended was a cook-in à la française. The dish I was asked to prepare was Clafoutis.
Clafoutis is one of France’s classic desserts and the recipes I’d seen before had seemed unwieldy (and French).
The one we were given to work with here, although written in French, was both easy to make and ultimately successful. So today, I re-worked it to fit our needs and our tummies and came up with this, which was another great success:
- 250 grammes (7oz) – Cherries
- 1 Egg
- 170ml cold Milk
- 50 grammes (2oz) – Sugar (castor might be best)
- 20 grammes (3/4oz) – Flour (three quarters of an ounce)
- 10 grammes (3/8oz) – Butter (three eighths of an ounce)
- pinch Salt
The figures in brackets are the measurements I used and it turned out ok.
Purists say you should leave the cherry pits in – the original recipe said to remove them – so you choose, I left them in both times, no worries.
Set the oven at 170°c (fan) 190°c (non-fan)
- melt the butter (I did it in the microwave, but in a dish over a pan of warm water would do)
- sift the flour, salt and half the sugar into a mixing bowl
- beat the egg and add it to the milk
- add the liquid and the melted butter to the flour mix and beat well (like you would a Yorkshire Pudding batter)
Now arrange the cherries in your lightly buttered dish(es) and then add the batter. It should cover the fruit easily.
Bake for 30-40 minutes (mine took 30 minutes in a fan oven) making sure it doesn’t brown too much. Now sprinkle the other half of the sugar across the top and put back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes (mine took 15). The resulting Clafoutis should be nice and caramelised but not burnt.
Turn the oven off and leave to cool.
When the dish is cooled sufficiently, it can be turned out and served.
