clafoutis

I hit the jackpot last Friday. All the fruits came into alignment, you could say. The gentleman of indistinguishable yet decidedly ethnic background who often has his table on the corner of 42nd Street and 3rd Avenue had a fantastic selection.

I know that non of the fruit I bought was grown locally, but I also believe in supporting local business (or fruit stands, as the case may be). He knows me, and knows that I know my fruit. And since I buy so much from him, usually when he's getting ready to pack up, he always gives me a great deal, and extra fruit too.

So this is how I find myself sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by pomegranates, quinces, blueberries, pears and cherries. Almost banging my head to figure out what to do with all of this bounty before it goes bad. The blueberries get frozen, to go with my yogurt, and the pears and pomegranates can keep for a bit. But the cherries, those wine red fruits, won't last forever.

I remembered a dessert that I had seen posted several other places. One that I had never heard of, and probably don't even say correctly either. Clafoutis. I researched the clafoutis a while ago, and even had a tentative recipe in my note book. It seemed like my overfull bag of cherries were going to provide a perfect opportunity to try this new dessert.

According to my buddy wikpedia, clafouti is a custard like French dessert traditionally made with cherries. At The Joy of Baking it said that the original clafouti was baked with the cherry pits in, which gave the custard an almond-y flavor. This seemed like the perfect dessert to use almond flour in, since it would mimic the flavor of the cherry pits.

As I said, I've never had clafouti before, but what I got was a superb cherry custard that was a great dessert fresh and a great breakfast the next morning. And it looked an awful lot like the picture on wikipedia. The Trainer restrained himself from eating more than one piece because he insisted it was MY treat.

Clafoutis
serves 8 or more

1/2 c. blanched almond meal
1 c. yogurt
3 eggs
2 T. honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 Lb cherries, fresh or frozen, pitted

Preheat oven to 325 F. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, yogurt and honey until smooth, add the almond meal and beat some more. Evenly spread cherries in the bottom of a pie pan or 6inch square baking dish. Pour batter over cherries. Bake for about 55 minutes, it should be golden and a little puffed in the center.