Clafouti: As Fun To Say As It Is To Eat

I’m going to admit that I didn’t really know what clafouti was until I made it. And the only reason I decided to make it was so that I could continuously say “I’m making cla-fou-ti!” in a sort of sing-song voice. It’s just a fun word to say, kind of like salsa. Say it out loud, do it! Clafouti. Salsa. Besides, as I later determined, clafouti is not just fun to say, it’s really good to eat! I was originally making mine just with pears, (to use up the last of another bushel brought over by the friends with the pear tree) but then Mom started asking if I was putting plums in and what else goes in clafouti, what about peaches and cherries and… And when I say she was asking, I mean she was suggesting that’s what should be put in. At this point I told her that if she wanted to make the clafouti she was welcome to, otherwise, get out of the kitchen. Of course I didn’t really want her to make it and neither did she. As a compromise I added some plums, but that’s where I drew the line. You can’t let other people think they can run your kitchen, you’ve got to show them who’s boss. Normally I’m not opposed to additions, but I was trying to be good again and follow a recipe. This one was for Roasted Pear and Cinnamon Clafouti from the Bon Appetit Cookbook, the recipe can also be found here http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/107530. And other than the plums, the only other thing I added was some fresh pressed pear juice at the same time as the maple syrup went into the skillet.

Although clafouti is fun to say and tasty to eat, it’s not necessarily the prettiest dessert to look at. At least mine wasn’t. I can see that is has potential, but not using this method per se. It would be nice in a slightly deep tart pan instead of a skillet. The bonus of the skillet method though is that it’s all done in one pan and goes from the stove top to the oven to serving without any fuss. I even made spiced pear buttermilk ice cream to accompany it, but like every time I make ice cream, I forgot to churn the freaking thing and hours later when I finally remembered it was solid as a rock and all crystallized. We went without ice cream. I’m actually currently trying to melt down the ice cream so that I can refreeze it, this time with churning. I don’t know if this will work, but I figure the texture can’t get any worse than it is.

Perhaps there are other people who don’t know what clafouti is either, and I fear my picture my not have resolved that at all. You begin with the bottom layer which is fruit and syrup reduced on the stove top and then you pour an egg mixture over this and pop it in the oven. About 40 minutes later you’ve got yourself a light custard consistency on top and warm gooey fruit on the bottom. For some reason I had it in my head that clafouti was cake-like. I was wrong, definitely custard and definitely delicious.

In other news, my $7 waffle maker caught fire this morning. Who would have seen that one coming? R.I.P. waffle maker, you were loved.


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Food + Baking + Dessert + Recipe + Pears + Plums