Friday, July 13, 2012...in my little red kitchen I stared down at one of the saddest baking attempts I've done since I started my blog. It was the day before the next San Diego Food Blogger's meeting and it was declared that there would be extra points if you could make something in honor of Bastille Day. I'll be honest with you...I had to look it up Bastille Day. Hmm....I didn't know much about French food so dessert it is. Back to the internet and I finally decided on a cherry clafoutis (cla-foo-tee) because in the end, I wanted to have an excuse to buy a bag of pricey cherries. I gathered my ingredients and made my atttempt at making a random French ,dessert which I had never even tried before. It wasn't an epic fail (it actually tasted really delicious) but in looks, it was definitely a fail. I brought a creamy avocado dip and pita chips to the meeting...hehe.
So what is a clafoutis? The best way to describe it is a cross between a pancake and a flan. Juding by all the receipes I found, there are several versions but most were pretty basic and straighforward. Traditionally it's made with unpitted cherries to give it an almond-like flavor but I decided I better pit mine. Let's just say my hands were a little stained afterwards. As I said, I enjoyed the flavors of the failed clafoutis so I knew I would eventually revisit it again in the future.
I would try it a lot sooner than expected. A little birdie had emailed me and told me about a local restaurant that was holding a special dinner for Julia Child's 100th birthday. I honestly haven't thought much about Julia Child in recent years but I do have memories of sitting on my grandmother's couch and watching cooking shows like In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefson PBS *gasp* pre-Food Network. I can tell you I am no expert at French cuisine and I can only dream to master a few French pasteries. When she wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia introduced Americans to fine dining and that as long as you liked to cook or wanted to learn to cook, you could do it. Today is Julia Child's 100th birthday in in the spirit of wanting to learn how to cook/bake, I decided to try the clafoutis a second time.
Julia Child's Cherry Clafoutis
from Epicurious.com
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 2/3 cup sugar, divided
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup flour
- 3 cups cherries, pitted
- powdered sugar, for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Using a blender, combine the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla,
salt and flour, and blend.
Lightly butter an 8-cup baking dish, and pour a 1/4-inch layer of
the blended mixture over the bottom. Set remaining batter aside.
Place dish into the oven for about 7-10 minutes, until a film of
batter sets in the pan but the mixture is not baked through. Remove from oven
(but don’t turn the oven off, yet).
Distribute the pitted cherries over the set batter in the pan,
then sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Pour the remaining batter over the
cherries and sugar.
Bake in the preheated oven 60 minutes, until the
clafouti is puffed and brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out
clean.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.
As I've stated in previous posts, I will always be honest with you when I try baking something new. I'm not a professionally trained baker or a master at pasteries...I'm just an everyday at home baker, learning as I go. I think a lot of you are in the same boat as I am. The cherry clafoutis didn't turn out super pretty (better than my original attempt though) but it was so good. Mine did not turn out puffy like a pancake but leaned more towards a firm custard which I believe I prefer. The tart cherries were a contrast to the sweet eggy batter and I had to stop myself from spooning more into my mouth. Who knows why my clafoutis turned out the way it did...maybe it was my sugar (I used C&H Light which is a sugar/stevia blend and not an exact measure to real sugar) or maybe it was my baking dish (glass) or it could even be my oven. Either way, I'm glad I tried again and I'm sure I will try it a third time later down the road. In Julia's words:
"Maybe the cat has fallen into the stew, or the lettuce has frozen, or the cake has collapsed. Eh bien, tant pis. Usually one's cooking is better than one thinks it is. And if the food is truly vile, then the cook must simply grit her teeth and bear it with a smile, and learn from her mistakes."
Happy 100th birthday, Julia! All the chefs, bakers, and everyday cooks that you have inspired thank you. Bon Apetite!
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