the honey eater » fruit

Fruity Clafouti

naomi — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:21:31 +0000

Have you ever made clafouti? Clafouti is a French flan-like desert traditionally made with cherries, though you can toss all number of fruits into the custard. I first made one ages ago, when I was a teenager, from a recipe in Martha Stewart Living. I remember at the time being surprised at how quickly it came together and how simple it was to make. I decided the time was ripe to make clafouti again, so I dusted off my old Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

I used the rest of my sour cherries, two fresh peaches and a handful of beautiful, jewel-like red currants. It was a perfect mix of sweet and sour, with little shots of the uber-tart currants. We liked it so much I had to make another two days later when we had some friends over for dinner. Try it and see how long it lasts in your house.

Summer Fruit Clafouti
adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Clafoutis are immensely adaptable, while sweet cherries are traditional you can use any kind of fruit you like. Apples work well, as do pears (see the clafouti aux poires at the bottom of the page up there?).

3 cups of fruit, pitted, peeled, etc.
1-1/4 cups milk
2/3 cup sugar, divided
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 7-8 cup baking dish (my deep-dish 9″ pie plate was the perfect size).

Place the milk, 1/3 cup of the sugar, the eggs, vanilla, salt and flour into a blender in that order. Cover and blend at the highest speed for one minute.

Pour a 1/4″ layer of batter into the bottom of your dish and set over moderate heat for about a minute until a film begins to form on the bottom of the dish. Remove from heat. Add your fruit to the dish and sprinkle with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Pour the rest of the batter over the fruit and smooth with the back of a spoon.

Bake for about one hour. The clafouti is done when it has puffed and the top had browned. A needle or knife inserted into the center should come out clean. Julia & co. suggest dusting it with powdered sugar before serving, which I’m sure would look lovely.

Raspberry Lemonade (and sherbet)

naomi — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:38:00 +0000

I might have bought a whole flat of raspberries the other day.

It’s just that they were so cheap, and raspberries are usually such a luxury item. The opportunity to own so many raspberries at one time was too exciting to pass up.

I lugged them home on the subway. Some woman next to me asked if I was selling them, I had to tell her, no, I wasn’t, they were all for me. I wasn’t even sure of what I would do with them yet.

When I got home I flipped open this book and started making the raspberry sherbet almost immediately. I had all the ingredients: 4 cups of raspberries, 2 cups of milk and 1 cup of sugar, and all I had to do was whirl it all in a blender, strain it to remove the seeds, stir in the juice of one lemon and freeze. Amir, who is usually a very generous man, refuses to share this with anyone, except me of course, and he does that only because he has to. Every time I have suggested taking it to a dinner or party he has grown sullen, even after I promise to make him a new and shiny raspberry sorbet (with rose! booze!). It ranks somewhere below the decadent chocolate cherry ice cream I made back in the spring and above my hazelnut ice cream. It is delightful, refreshing even, and perfect with a handful of fresh berries.

After making the sherbet I still had loads of berries left (and I still do! I have a liter-sized container of them, sitting in my fridge, taunting me with their tart goodness). Inspired by this, I decided to make a raspberry lemonade. I had picked up a bag of organic lemons at the store, because they too were on sale, and I planned to use the peel. I was very pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out. The raspberry flavor came in very strong, a nice summery drink.

Raspberry Lemonade

8 cups (2 l) water

peel of one lemon (preferably unsprayed)

22 ounces (600 g) raspberries (about 4 half-pints)

1 cup (225 grams) turbinado sugar

juice of 6 lemons (about 1-1/2 cups or 350 ml)

Sparkling water

Mix 2 cups (500 ml) water, lemon peel, and raspberries in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and let simmer 15 minutes.

Pour through a collander lined with cheesecloth into a bowl or another pot. Let cool for at least 15 minutes. Squeeze excess juice from the cooked fruit, discard.

Add sugar to the juice and cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add lemon juice and water. Chill juice until cold, mix with sparkling water, or flat water, to taste.

Eureka! Banana cake part 1

naomi — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:28:00 +0000

Remember this lonesome banana?

Well, I paired him up with these guys and made a cake.

A truly delicious, forgiving, easy to make cake that is the bastard child of my banana bread and Edna Lewis‘ Blueberry Cake. I also received a little help from this cake, which has been making the rounds on the internet lately. I have been playing around with proportions and flavors, and there is a part II to this story that involves peanut butter and chocolate.

Ms. Lewis’ Blueberry Cake makes use of leftover berries from canning, which I sadly do not have, so I cook mine down. You end up with a beautiful little blueberry sauce, which is perfect on its own, though you could add a little sugar and cook it down if you feel like spending an extra few minutes slaving over the stove.

All I can tell you is that when Amir was sitting at the kitchen table eating this two-day old cake, and dipping it in the sauce, he seemed very happy to be back in New York.

Banana-blueberry-buttermilk cake

I made this in a 9″ springform pan, but I think it would work just as well in a 8″. You’ll get a slightly thicker cake and a denser blueberry topping.

1 pint (250 g) blueberries
2 cups (130 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp (1 g) salt
1/2 tsp (4 g) baking soda
1 tsp (4 g) baking powder
4 tbsp (56g) butter, softened
1/2 cup (70 g) sugar + 2 tbsp (35 g) for topping
1 over-ripe banana, mashed
1 egg
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 cup (110 ml) buttermilk
1/2 tsp (3g) ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8″ or 9″ springform pan.

Cook blueberries over medium heat until they begin to release their juices, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix in the egg and vanilla.
Alternate adding the buttermilk and flour, starting and ending with the buttermilk.

Pour batter into pan. Using a slotted spoon, spoon cooked blueberries onto top of cake.

Stir together cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle on top of the cake.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

*You could probably make this cake with uncooked blueberries, you could probably do a lot of things to it. You could even melt the butter and just toss everything in a bowl. Play around, it’s an immensely adaptable cake.

summer strawberries

naomi — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:02:00 +0000