Monday, August 10, 2009

Nectarine Clafoutis

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Julie and Julia. Julia and Julie.
The movie has quietly taken everyone by storm. Food bloggers are skipping down the streets due to the fact that one of their own got a book deal/movie deal, and OH MY LORD - Meryl Streep even acts in it. Food editors can't stop writing about it and there has been a general resurgence in interest in all things Ms.Childs.
Which is when I step in and finally give Clafoutis a try. KLAH-FOO-TEE.
So I scour the Internet for a recipe, find a gazillion different versions. Get intimidated. Finally settle on Kevin's version. Decide to be indulgent and substitute full cream for some of the milk. We're bloggers! We can do anything!
Then discover that I actually have no cherries on hand.
OK, substitute something else. Ahhhh....a bag of nectarines sits ready for the picking and voila - Nectarine Clafoutis is born.
Meh...
Now, this is purely me, I guess I was expecting a more cake-like dessert - which this is not, it is more of a baked custard texture. It's still good enough for the spouse to scrape all of it to the bottom of the dish, but I shall hold out a little more and try it with cherries a la Julia Childs or pears a la Barefoot Contessa before I join the All Things Bright and Clafoutis Choir. In the meantime, just take a look at what Meeta of Whats for Lunch, Honey drummed up in her raspberry and nectarine version!
Nectarine Clafoutis (slightly adapted from Closet Cooking - Cherry Clafoutis)

1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large nectarines, pitted, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
2. Beat eggs into flour mix, one at a time.
3. Whisk in milk, cream and vanilla extract.
4. Arrange nectarine slices in concentric circles in a greased pie dish.
5. Slowly pour the batter into the pie dish taking care not to displace the fruit.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or till center is set and edges are golden brown. (Note - the clafoutis will balloon up and be puffy while baking, but will immediately reduce in size when removed from the oven.)

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