24 August 2010

Be my guest! Introducing, Laura...

It is always great to compare recipes and share stories with friends. Laura was kind enough to create a post to share her experience with Blackberry Clafoutis. Thanks, Laura!!

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I like to cook and try out new recipes. I also want to be healthy and do what I can for the environment. These are my reasons for joining a CSA or community sponsored agriculture group. When I first joined I was living in an apartment so growing my own veggies was not an option. I now have a house with space for a garden, but I don’t have the patience for gardening so I decided to stick with the farm.

Doe Run Farm
My personal favorite is Doe Run Farm. They have a mini-share that is the perfect size and they include fruit in almost every box. Every Tuesday I pick up a box of organic vegetables and fruits that have been freshly picked from the farm. It’s like Christmas every week. I never know what I’ll get because I don’t get a choice; it’s whatever is in season. This means that I have to be creative and try vegetables that I would normally leave on the shelf at the supermarket or even at the farmer’s market, and every now and then this means I find something new that I love.

That’s sort of how I ended up making this clafoutis. It is pronounced kla-foo-TEE, which makes me feel very French. I had seen recipes for all sorts of variations featuring just about any fruit you can imagine – cherry, pear, peach, and so on. I’ve been meaning to try it, but never got around to it. Then we got blackberries in our box.

I like blackberries, but I don’t love them and there was an unfortunate incident with a blackberry cobbler a few years back, so I was looking for something different.  I found a recipe on Baking Bites, a food blog I have been reading for a few years now. I thought I’d give it a shot... It was oh so good and super easy to make! It was custardy, not too sweet, and so pretty. Well, the first day. After that the blackberry juice stained some of the custard grey, but it still tasted good! I had leftovers for breakfast right out of the fridge. I think it’s better warm, but is also pretty good chilled. Enjoy!

Blackberry Clafoutis
12-oz fresh blackberries, about 2 cups

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp sugar, divided
1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk (low fat is fine)

3 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425F and lightly grease a 10-inch round baking/tart dish (a deep 9-inch pie plate will work, too).
 Place berries in a single layer at the bottom of the prepared baking dish. 
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk, vanilla and nutmeg until very smooth. This can also be done in the food processor. Pour mixture on top of berries and sprinkle with remaining 1 tbsp sugar.
 Bake for 15 minutes at 425F. Turn oven down to 350F and bake an additional 20-25 minutes, until clafoutis is golden brown and a tester (sharp knife) inserted into the center comes out clean.
 Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.

Serves 8 (supposedly, I think we got 6 servings out of it)

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