I got some plums from the
fruit shop just like that. Actually I thought Aniket my son would love them.
But they turned out to be slightly sour, maybe not ripe as yet. He actually
loved the big juicy plums we used to get him when we visited London last year. So
I waited with patience …till they ripened. When they finally did my son Aniket
dint like them all that much. I would carefully remove the seed and give him a
plateful of plums…..he would eat one
then squish the rest of them into a pulpy mass of fruit sauce…..A two
year old toddlers easy messy tip to make plum sauce ?Hump….I would go
crazy….not to mention about the cleaning up……
So I decided to put my
plums to good use….I had seen the recipe for Gary Rhodes Cherry Clafoutis…
Why not substitute the
cherry for plums? A few minutes on the net revealed there were innumerable
recipes for plum clafoutis too….So my plums went into the baking dish and the
batter was ready in minutes .I then spread the batter over my sugar coated
plums and send them to bake in my oven and soon I was ready with a batch of
warm plum scented clafoutis…
This time Aniket changed
his stance. I had put him to sleep just before I started making the clafoutis
and he got up just in time to see The bowl of yummy dessert I had baked for him
in such a short time….I topped up the bowl with a generous scoop of vanilla
whipped cream…. he was quite pleased with the dessert….he asked for more…. I
took a large spoonful of the lovely dessert loaded with the sweetness of plums and the richness of cream for him once again… this
time un accompanied by his usual squish squash session.
So what is a clafouti?
It is a baked French dessert of black
cherries arranged in a buttered dish and covered
with a thick flan-like batter… quotes the Wikipedia …Well
something in between a cake and custard as I would put it.
When other kinds of fruit are used
instead of cherries, the dish is properly called a flaugnarde. Variations are red cherries, plums,prunes, apples, cranberries or blackberries. The clafoutis is dusted with powdered sugar and served lukewarm …………You can serve it with crème
fraiche or even vanilla ice-cream. I served my clafouti with a big dollop of
vanilla whipped cream… and I must say it was bowl full of absolute delight.
For the Clafoutis
Eggs- 2
Caster sugar-75 gms plus extra for dusting and coating plums
Double cream or
crème fraiche-100 ml
Milk-100 ml
Butter -1 tbsp
plus extra for greasing
Granulated sugar-1
tbsp
Plums deseeded-15
nos
For Vanilla whipped cream
Double cream-150
ml
Castor sugar-25 gm
Vanilla essence- A
little
Method
For Clafoutis
Deseed the plums.In a non-stick
pan take 1 tbsp of butter and let it melt.
When the butter bubbles add
the plums and cook until the plums are softened and coated with butter for
about 2 minutes.
Spread one tablespoon of
granulated sugar (or more) over the plums and cook until sugar turns into a
syrup and coats the plums.
Whisk the eggs and sugar.
Sift in the flour and whisk well.
Stir in the milk and cream
and leave to rest for 10 minutes
Butter a baking dish and
sprinkle with sugar to coat. Scatter the cherries in the dish and pour the
batter over it.
Preheat oven to 180C/350
F/Gas 4.Bake for 20-25 minutes till batter is firm to touch and knife inserted
in the centre comes out clean. If the centre is soft bake for 5 minutes more
Remove from oven and allow
to cool.
For Vanilla whipped cream
Whisk together the cream,
sugar and vanilla essence to soft peaks for the vanilla whipped cream
Serve the clafoutis warm
with a large dollop of vanilla whipped cream.
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