Posts Tagged ‘Cherries’

Recipe: Clafoutis   Permalink

Thursday, July 5th, 2012

Because we in Eastern North America will be paying premium prices for cherries this year, it’s best we use them in applications that truly show them off, like a clafoutis.

Clafoutis is a classic country dessert from the Limousin region in central France. As with a lot of French country food, it’s simple, focuses on ingredients and is served family style. It’s not overly refined or finicky, or needing a lot of skill. The cherries themselves are distinct and whole, and become sweet/tart pop-in-your-mouth juice bombs. It can pretty much be described as a big casserole made with (traditionally) cherries and sweetened crepe batter. Yep, that’s pretty much it. And it’s even easier to make. Just about any fruit that can hold its shape well under heat can be used in place of cherries.

Clafoutis

750g (roughly 1.5lbs) sweet cherries like Bing, Chelan or Ranier.

For the batter:

325mL milk (2% or higher)
55g (¼ cup) unsalted butter
3 large eggs
70g (½ cup) all-purpose flour
125g (½ cup) granulated sugar
1 TSP vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt

For dusting:

30mL (2 TBSP sugar)

For greasing:

5mL (1 TSP) butter

Equipment:

A Blender or stick blender.
A medium bowl.
A small sauce pan or microwave safe dish.
A shallow casserole dish, capable of holding 2L (8 cups) of liquid, with room for expansion.
(optional) a cherry pitter.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 190°C (375°F)

1) (optional) Pit the cherries. Traditionally, they aren’t pitted and it’s said the pits impart extra flavour. Like bitter almonds perhaps? Stone fruit pits contain amydgalin, which metabolizes in the body as hydrogen cyanide. Best to err on the non-toxic side.

Not to mention you’ll need to issue advance warning, or risk broken teeth of your guests. And we like our friends, don’t we?

2) In a bowl in a microwave or on the stovetop in a small pan, heat the 55g of unsalted butter until almost completely melted. Carry over heat will continue to melt the rest.

3) In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt.

4) Place the eggs in a blender and blitz until frothy. Add the flour mixture and pulse until combined, occasionally stopping to scrape down the side of the blender jug.

5) With the speed on medium-high, in a steady stream pour in the butter and then the milk. Allow the blender to keep going until no visible lumps are seen. Add the vanilla and pulse once or twice to incorporate.

NOTE: At this point, you can store the batter and cherries in the refrigerator until needed, for up to 48 hours.

6) Using the 1 TSP of butter, grease the inside of a shallow casserole dish, then add the cherries. Any cherries that don’t fit must be eaten or taken prisoner for later sado-masticistic reasons. Pour the batter over the top, but keep the liquid a good 1cm (½ inch) from the lip of the dish. Clafoutis batter will slightly soufflé and may spill over the edge.

7) Bake for 30 minutes, pull from the oven, sprinkle the additional sugar over the top and return to the oven (turned 180° for equal cooking) and cook for an additional 30 minutes, or until the top shows signs of light browning and caramelization.

Serve warm. Try not to devour it all in one sitting.

It’s Cherry Season… Maybe?   Permalink

Thursday, July 5th, 2012

Cherries are one of my favourite fruit. This year hasn’t been good to the cherry crops in Eastern Canada and U.S. Northeast. A tepid winter combined with a few very cold weeks in spring meant that cherry trees blossomed early and later frosts froze the flowers on the branch. This ended up staunching the future growth of the fruit later on. As such, sweet cherry crop expectations have been reduced. Tart cherries—the ones most often made into pies—were bitten by frost only shortly after the buds opened, and have suffered even more dramatically.

Meagen Finnerty reporting for the Erie Times-News:

The frosts destroyed 70 to 100 percent of cherry crops for local farms, Andy Muza, fruit crop agent with the Erie County Cooperative Extension, said.

“The 70 percent might even be generous,” he said.

In other words, Cherries are gonna be mighty ‘spensive this year.