One of the best parts of summer is all of the fresh fruit. I love winter for all of its citric bounty (and miss it in the warm months) but I want the berries and stone fruits that summer offers all season long. So when they make their way to the grocery store I run amok buying pounds of cherries, pints of blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and grapes. Then I get home to scour my books looking for the right recipe that will compliment them for guests at a cook out or party (or my test subjects). So was the case when David’s aunt and uncle had us over.
I don’t care much for custard or cream based desserts (or maybe I do??), but I care about complimenting ingredients while making something new and exciting at the same time. When I came across the recipe for clafoutis in the Tartine cookbook, I was all over it.
i even got to use my pitter!
The recipe suggested leaving the pits in the cherries since they would add an almond flavor, but I have been working at a law firm long enough to cover my bases on liability. I did not measure how many cherries I used, but enough until I thought I would evenly cover most space in a 9 inch pie pan.
OH…I also felt like making a crust. I know, I know! The French would probably cry murder in adding a crust, but it felt so right. I used a basic pastry crust, then blind baked it before adding the custard mixture.
whole milk, sugar, salt and a vanilla bean
Some people are scared of making custard, but I only hate eating them. It’s really pretty simple: add all of these egg and milk products together, whisk them about, make sure everything stays stable long enough to just barely start boiling, whisk some more and then pour (careful!) into your prepared pie pan and bake! It is pretty easy…here’s the recipe – don’t be intimidated!
The spots that looked wet concerned me at first and then I let it cool down for about an hour. The spots remained, but it seemed to congeal. I was hesitant at first, but it turned out splendidly – even I ate some!
