It’s cherry time here in Australia and that means … cherry clafouti. Of course, with Adelaide enjoying a few days with temperatures the wrong side of 40, it’s not quite the right time to be turning on the oven but it will be a little cooler next week and, if you’re in the northern hemisphere, there’s nothing wrong with using tinned cherries in a clafouti.
Normally I use Gordon Ramsay’s recipe from Just Desserts* (you read about that here) but for a change I opted for the much more store cupboard version from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking**. I had to do a little fiddling with proportions to account for the fact that I had two cups of cherries, not three.
Begin by preheating your oven to 180°C (350°F).
In a bowl (or blender) mix just over 2/3 cup of milk (whole milk, obviously), just over 1/4 cup of caster sugar, 2 eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt and 1/3 cup of plain flour. Beat well – if doing so by hand take care to whisk out any floury lumps. Child suggests straining the batter if you make it by hand but I find that a bit of effort while beating gets rid of lumps just as well.
As with all batters, if you can let this rest overnight (in the fridge) so much the better, but you can use it straight away.
Using some unsalted butter, grease well a baking dish (or baking dishes) which will hold your 2 cups of cherries snugly, and pour over the batter. Place in the hot oven and bake for about an hour – until the batter is puffed and golden and a skewer comes out clean.
Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar if you want. Absolutely essential is a ton of fresh cream!
* Just Desserts also available from Amazon UK
** Mastering the Art of French Cooking also available through Amazon UK
Would be a wonderful way to use up the aging cherries in my kitchen – but it is waaay too hot today!