Rhubarb Cardamom Clafoutis
In the past few weeks, my kitchen (and sometimes even the living room and balcony) has looked like a farmer's market. I use every corner, kitchen counter, shelf and cupboard to store piles of fruit and vegetables. Tomatoes, squash and beans sit next to colourful cabbages, lettuce, the whole range of citrus fruits and more pots of herbs than I've ever had in my kitchen before. Plums, strawberries, pears and apples share space with all sorts of roots and greens. Since I started working on my first cookbook, my kitchen became a beautiful mess, completely stuffed and almost bursting. My fridge is always so full that I have problems fitting in the butter tin and milk after breakfast.
If there are no book recipes on my schedule, I only need to look around me and I can pick all the fruit and veg I could possibly ask for. There's everything at hand, whatever my taste desires. Be it spring, summer, autumn or winter, the four seasons are present in my kitchen through all the produce, which also means that there is always something that needs to be used as I don't want to waste anything. I ended up with too many eggs, too much milk and too much rhubarb, this called for a clafoutis! I refined the golden French pan dish with cardamom, you could also add cinnamon but cardamom is my favourite baking spice at the moment. The result was very fluffy, I was impressed how much it rose this time! You never really know what this dessert is going to do when you take it out of the oven. The pleasure didn't last very long, a clafoutis can gracefully rise like a soufflé and then deflate within seconds. But it tasted fantastic, warm and fragrant, slightly sweet and sour, just right for a late Sunday breakfast with your mama - Happy Mother's Day to all the great mamas in the world!
You can find the recipe for my apricot clafoutis here!
Rhubarb Cardamom Clafoutis
For a 23cm /9″ heavy, ovenproof pan or baking dish you need
rhubarb, cut into 3cm / 1 1/4" pieces, 300g / 10 1/2oz
ground cardamom
plain flour 80g / 3 ounces
granulated sugar 4 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons for the rhubarb
a pinch of salt
butter, melted, 30g / 1 ounce plus 2 tablespoons for the rhubarb
large eggs 4
milk 200ml / 7 ounces
freshly squeezed orange juice 3 tablespoons
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom in a heavy pan, add the rhubarb and cook for about 3 minutes or until it softens but still holds its shape, stir once in a while. Set the pan aside.
Set the oven to 180°C / 355°F (top / bottom heat) and generously butter a 23cm /9″ heavy, ovenproof pan or baking dish.
Combine the flour, 4 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt. Whisk 1 teaspoon of cardamom into the warm melted butter and mix with the eggs, milk and orange juice then pour into the dry mixture and mix with an electric mixer until well combined.
Spread the rhubarb in the buttered pan and pour the batter on top. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the clafoutis is golden and set. Sprinkle the warm clafoutis with sugar and ground cardamom to taste and enjoy immediately.
Apricot Clafoutis
My Apricot Clafoutis is as easy to make as pancakes - and it's at least as addictive! It looks like a tart but the texture is more like a flan, it's not too sweet, light and fruity. I can imagine it as a wonderful dessert for a summer dinner, sitting outside in a garden and finishing the meal with a pretty French clafoutis.
We had a friend over and as soon as the clafoutis was out of the oven, we gathered in my kitchen and waited impatiently for it to cool down a bit. We cut this scrumptious little thing into pieces and it was nearly gone in 15 minutes! It's one of those sweet treats that you end up eating in one go without noticing. Our guest had never tried this French dish before and he looked quite taken by its taste - he was the first one who asked for a second piece!
Traditionally, a clafoutis is made with black unpitted cherries but I needed a cherry break as I ate far too many of them in the past few days. Apricots were my first choice, and I almost prefer them in this dish. I like how they blend in with the vanilla flavoured batter. They aren't as sweet as peaches or cherries which fits very well in this composition. I also left out the traditional icing sugar on top, all the flavours were so well balanced that I didn't feel the need to add more sweetness.
Apricot Clafoutis
For a 23cm /9" heavy pan or baking dish you need
apricots, cut in half, 6
plain flour 80g / 3 ounces
granulated sugar 4 tablespoons
a pinch of fresh vanilla
a pinch of salt
butter, melted, 30g / 1 ounce
organic eggs 4
milk 200ml/ 7 ounces
brandy 3 tablespoons
optionally: icing sugar for dusting
Set the oven to 190°C / 375°F (fan-assisted oven) and butter the pan generously.
Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk the milk, eggs, brandy and melted butter and pour into the dry mixture, mixing constantly until well combined.
Spread the apricots in the pan and pour the batter on top. Bake for 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 175°C / 350°F and bake for another 8 minutes or until the clafoutis is golden and set. Let it cool for 5 minutes, leave it in the pan or turn it around and sprinkle with icing sugar if you like, serve warm.
