I DON’T BAKE MUCH THESE DAYS, BUT IN ANOTHER LIFE I was the Queen of Pie (and even baked all my bread, too). Even though I rarely cut or rub cold butter into flour for a crust any longer, I’ve found a shortcut to homemade fruit dessert that’s served me faithfully since I hung up my rolling pin. No surprise that I attribute the find to my old friend Martha Stewart, who taught me many things—including clafoutis, a simple, custardy backdrop to the peaches that are looking good just in time for Summer Fest Week 2: Fruits from Trees.
I love clafoutis (kla-foo-tee), a humble French concoction that’s like a Huffy-Puffy or Dutch Baby or German pancake (whatever you call it, that’s my favorite Christmas-morning food), but sweeter and with fruit inside. If you have 3 cups of fruit and some kitchen basics like milk and eggs and flour, you can make this dessert very last-minute, even just as you sit down to eat the main course, another selling factor. Easy, yet quite impressive. But first…
…a word from our collaborators (because Summer Fest is all about cross-blog collaboration, the sharing of recipes and tips—including yours):
Marilyn at Simmer Till Done no longer bakes professionally, but has never hung up her rolling pin. What has that girl whipped up for us today? A ginger-peach pandowdy. Yup.
My blogging “sister” Paige Smith Orloff of The Sister Project wanted to make a pie with her mother. Instead, we get a post about “The Peril of Pie,” and a recipe for plum tarte tatin. Long story.
It’s too hot in Florida for Jaden Hair at Steamy Kitchen to bake anything, so she was smart: Salad’s on her menu today, an amazing salad involving warm plums. Can’t wait.
In Southern California, Matt Armendariz of Mattbites finally stopped drinking those herb-laced cocktails from last week’s event to make—are you ready?—apricot ice cream. Oh, my.
The White on Rice Couple, likewise in SoCal, are featuring a summery peach cooler that the entire family can enjoy. (Sounds like Todd and Diane, too, had enough of Matt’s high-test monkey business.)
Shauna Ahern, the Gluten Free Girl, is on vacation this week, that smarty, but if you want a gluten-free fruit-dessert choice, what about this fruit crumble?
Now let’s get cooking the peach clafoutis.
Though clafoutis is traditionally made with cherries, as it was in the recipe Martha shared in her must-have 1995 cookbook, “The Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected Recipes for Every Day,” I’ve come to regard her batter as the universal solvent for all things fruit. With it, I have since made clafoutis from peaches, plums, pears, various berries, cherries, and mixes of fresh fruit and dried (such as by adding a handful of dried cranberries or cherries to pears or peaches; raisins and pears might even be good). Get out your blender to make the solvent:
Martha’s Clafoutis Batter, my adaptation
½ cup sugar (reserve 1 Tbsp. to dust baking dish)
¾ cup milk
¼ cup heavy cream
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2/3 cup all-purpose flourIn a blender, combine the ingredients, and blend on high for 1 minute, scraping the sides once midway.
Into a 9-inch glass pie dish or a fluted porcelain tart dish that has been buttered first and dusted with the reserved 1 Tablespoon of sugar, pour half the batter.
Arrange 3 cups of sliced fruit of your choice in the partly filled pan. Pour on the remaining batter and bake at 350 until the top puffs and starts to turn golden-brown, about 45-60 minutes.
Note: Everyone’s clafoutis custard is a little different (just as is everyone’s pancake batter or pie crust, though the basics are the same). Martha even has more than one on her site. For example, Mark Bittman recommends ½ cup sugar, 3 eggs, 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, ¾ cup heavy cream OR plain yogurt, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of salt). You may like more fruit or more custard on balance. Experiment, and enjoy.
HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER FEST:
So now it’s your turn: Have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes? Starting last Tuesday, for four Tuesdays, you can contribute in various ways, big or small. Contribute a whole post, or a comment—whatever you wish. It’s meant to be fun, viral, fluid. No pressure, just delicious. The possibilities:
Simply leave your tip or recipe or favorite links in the comments below a Summer Fest post on my blog, and then go visit my collaborators and do the same.
The cross-blog event idea works best when you leave your recipe or favorite links (whether to your own blog or someone else’s) at all the host blogs. That way, they are likely to be seen by the widest audience. Everyone benefits, and some pretty great dialog starts simmering.
Or think bigger: Publish entire posts of your own, if you wish, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2009 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt of Mattbites).
THE 2009 SCHEDULE:
- Tuesday, July 28: HERBS. Any and all; I did parsley, and readers added everything else.
- Tuesday, August 4: FRUITS FROM TREES (also known as stone fruits, but we won’t scream if you toss in a berry or another fruit, promise).
- Tuesday, August 11: BEANS-AND-GREENS WEEK (either or both, your choice).
- Tuesday, August 18: TOMATO WEEK. How do you like them love apples?
And in case I forget what week it is, won’t somebody remind me on Twitter? Thanks. We’ll be talking it up there, too.
That’s how a Summer Fest works (and the way that Food Fest 2008 worked, too, remember?). See you next week.
Hello! That looks delicious! I wish we had better peaches in the UK but they’re always somewhat of a disappointment. Maybe making a calfoutis will help the flavour?
One thing we have lots of is plums – that’s what I’ve chosen for this week’s Summer Fest! http://www.rosylipsandlavender.com/2009/08/summer-fest-spiced-red-plum-ginger-and.html. I’m new to this and was disappointed to miss out on herb week last week but already thinking about what I can do with beans for next week, especially as they’re the only plant we seem to be able to grow! Rosy x
Welcome, Rosy. I had a visit to your blog and the plum chutney/jam looks wonderful…what a mix of flavors! Glad you joined us, and come again for gardening or more food anytime.
Hello Margaret,
The market here in Beaune is bursting at the seams with all things summer and I’ve been stocking my larder. I’ve been making jam, cornichons and pickled peaches inspired by Alice Waters.
In honor of this week’s Summer 2009 theme, I have two posts to share.
http://marjorietaylor.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/06/rustic-apricot-tart.html
http://marjorietaylor.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/07/apricot-confiture.html
What a fantastic idea! We already make German Oven Pancakes, but this is fantastic! They boys will love this (esp if I add some whipped cream to the top!)
I love clafoutis but amazingly enough, I’ve never made one at home. That’s going to change this week!
Here’s my entry for this week – a cake that we made last night. Martha rarely lets me down and this was delicious:
http://tnlocavore.typepad.com/tennessee_locavore/2009/08/drowning-in-peaches-what-a-wonderful-problem-to-have.html
great minds think alike! here’s my contribution to the celebration of summer fruit:
http://thecosmiccowgirl.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/nectarine-and-mascarpone-tart/
This looks delicious. I’ve never heard of clafoutis before but much prefer peaches to cherries. Good call!
I definitely cheated a little bit, but here’s my post on fruits & failure (with a couple successful past recipes linked in the post): http://jekyllian.blogspot.com/2009/08/fruits-failures.html
This is such a great idea, thanks, Margaret!
This looks delicious! Here is my entry for this week, I make this Simple Almond Cake with all kinds of tree fruit. In this example it is made with rhubarb (not a tree fruit), but I often make it with plums, apples or peaches. It never fails!http://www.thenaptimechef.com/2009/05/napping-in-rhubarb-patch.html
Welcome to you all, and especially to first-time commenters Danielle and Kelsey and Marjorie.
@Danielle: Cheating (which we should just call being smart and sensible) is always allowed.
@Kelsey: I love almond flavor with fruit, so this sounds wonderful.
@Marjorie: Two delicious-sounding apricot recipes that make me want to do some jam.
See you both soon again, I hope, and thanks.
I’ve been obsessing about clafoutis lately, it being cherry season and all. I’ve been comparing recipe upon recipe, not wanting to waste the ephemeral cherries on a subpar one. But Martha I know would not steer me wrong, especially when it comes to baking (her pate brise is my go-to crust). So thank you, thank you, thank you for getting me up off of the bench!
I love your take on the traditional clafloutis, and the recipe looks so easy to whip up. Thanks for sharing.
I lost my AC over the weekend so I’m behind on my Summer Fest entry but here’s a stone fruit post on cherries I did earlier this summer:
http://penandfork.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/now-and-later-cherries
Margaret, do you know @kalynskitchen? She’s looking for types of radishes to grow. Says her’s always turn out woody. Thought you might be able to help her.
Welcome, Laura. Yes, this recipe just always works so why mess with it. The original version includes a little Cognac, I believe, on the cherries…but I just don’t bother. Glad to help (thanks to Martha). :)
@Gwen: Great tip on how to keep the flour from “wheezing” as you say on your blog) our of the Cuisinart. Thanks. I will go find @kalynskitchen on Twitter and see what’s up.
What a delicious looking Peach Clafoutis, I will have to try this recipe.
My entry for this week is Peach & Radish salsa, made form local peaches and radishes, yum!
http://piccantedolce.blogspot.com/2009/08/peach-radish-salsa.html
Margaret, what’s all this about not being a baker, or a food photographer? Doing a pretty fine imitation of both, if you ask me. The clafouti looks luscious, and that “slanty sunlight,” as you call it, really makes it shine. Josie’s in love with that picture and will now snub the pandowdy, and demand Clafouti. What have you done?
Thanks for hosting Summer Fest, and bringing so many good cooks together. xo.
Welcome, Jen H. Your entry sound so interesting, and not a combination I would ever have thought of (like most of the best recipes). Thank you.
@Marilyn: I am a troublemaker. Born that way, and too old to stop now. :) Tell Josie I have 7/8 of one in the fridge I can share.
I love Clafoutis. My recipe book substitutes almond flour instead of regular flour, which isn’t always on hand, so I’ll try your way. I did one with blueberries and cherries a few weeks ago. Cognac would have improved it, certainly. And how long did it take you to find peaches that perfect?
Yes! I love clafoutis too and have been known to eat it for breakfast.
If you feel like doing more baking, try the roasted apricot tarts I posted about on my blog. The dough has only 3 ingredients, so they are ridiculously easy to put together, and you can sub any stone fruit. It’s paired with ginger ice cream, and makes an impressive dessert. Here it is:
http://www.pastrypal.com/2009/07/25/apricots-tamed/
Thanks for the Summer Fest. A great idea.
Another lover of ze clafloutis, here. Lovely, luscious photo and tempting recipe. mmm.
I think you are the temptress of twitter with your food tweets, now I see it is presenting upon your garden tables as well. Working upon my subconscious, subverting ascetic wellmeaning dieter in me.
I fling away inhibition in the last of summer and believe I shall try this invitation to experiment .
Since peaches are cheap and ripe as well as my favorite tree fruit, I was just browsing the cookbooks for a clafloutis recipe to try last night! I’m inspired to join your summerfest. It must be too late for fruit tree recipes but I’ll hope to join in the beans and green next week.
I was tempted to make Clafoutis with my newly discovered sour cherries, but opted for hand pies instead. Yes, newly discovered because I thought they were the invention of magazine editors ; ). I’d never actually seen them in our markets or freezers before.
http://backseatgourmet.blogspot.com/2009/08/taste-adventure-sour-cherries.html
This looks so yummy! I’ve had peaches on my mind too :)
Here is my post on the easiest way to pit a peach:
http://www.veggiebelly.com/2009/07/how-to-pit-a-peach.html
And once youve pitted your peaches, make this super easy peach tart!
http://www.veggiebelly.com/2009/07/easy-peach-tart.html
Margaret, perfect timing! I haven’t made a clafouti in ages. I know what we’re having for dessert tonight!! Off to the farmers market to see what looks good! Need to find some ginger ice cream while I’m at it…
I have been obsessing over peach pie, finally I made one 2 nights ago with no patience. Not very good for pie rust
(patience is a must). It came out okay, but I am use to my own great crust. I did eat all of the insides and trashed the crust. Margaret you have solved another one of my problems. Since I seem to be running around with my head cut off most days, I had forgotten about the Clafoutis. Thank you, I will try your recipe on the peaches I just got and let you know.
Welcome, Irina, and also to Veggiebelly.
Irina, how did you know what I had for breakfast? :) Heaven help me, alone here w/a custardy clafoutis.
Veggiebelly, thank you for the pitting tip (which I needed yesterday!) and the easy tart.
Hope to see you both soon again.
Clafoutis is a great way to use up fruit before it goes bad, thanks for another batter recipe, I’ll definitely try it. I had a hard time picking a post for this summer fest, I use a lot of fruit. I was going to share cherry rhubarb skillet pie, but I think the hot weather we’re having calls for some sweet and tangy cherry limeade.
http://dianasaurdishes.com/07/refreshing-cherry-limeade-and-tastecasting-seattle/
Loving SummerFest!
Hi Margaret! What a lovely idea!! Glad I found it on mattbites. I recently posted a recipe for a nectarine pie w/ creme fraiche ice cream and it was fab!
See you next week!
Clafoutis is such a brilliant solution to an abundance of summer fruit. I really need to make them more often! This looks delicious.
My contribution to the Sumemr Fest is a classic cherry pie made with sour cherries: http://www.phoo-d.com/2009/08/classic-cherry-pie.html
Hey Margaret, You can always trust Martha for the good pastry recipes and this definitely fits the bill. A little whipped cream on top and a cup of tea, delicious.
I found some great pluots, plums and cherries and put this together
http://thehealthyirishman.com/2009/08/pecan-crusted-turkey-with-cherry-pluot-compote/
See you next week.
Help me Lord! I’m going to have to take the rest of the week off to try all these delicious recipes! Do you think my boss would mind if I brought in all the leftovers for her?
No time to bake until this coming weekend, but I know it’s going to be peaches.
Thanks for all the wonderful ideas!
I’m afraid I cannot participate in the stone fruit fest, as they all make my mouth itch something terrible (and peaches actually make my eyes swell up). But I am firmly on the clafoutis bandwagon!
I often make clafoutis for breakfast, usually with cranberries (http://www.foodonthebrain.net/2007/11/20/breakfast-clafoutis/) but I also like blueberries and lemon zest, or chunks of rhubarb. None of which are tree fruits, alas.
Welcome to Gavan, Phoo-D and Jessamyn. Wow! So exciting to see this kind of response, thank you all.
@Jessamyn, you and I are ont he same breakfast wavelength…as I said, I think Huffy Puffy (basically same thing without fruit) is great holiday breakfast, so totally agree on clafoutis. Love your post.
@Gavan: Ha! You had to break out the pluots, didn’t you (and the tea, too). Actually, I am a tea-only drinker, so I am right there with you. Thank you for great stuff, and your visit.
@Phoo-D: I think the name “sour cherries” gives these fruits a very bad rap, when they are a real gem. Thank you.
Better late than never. This is so much fun. What great recipes! http://fromgarden2table.com/?p=963
I want to play! Actually first, very excited to find this blog. I am pretending to be a gardener this year and can see your advice coming in very handy. Hopefully next year my garden will be better.
For my entry into SummerFest I recounted the PeachFest celebration my mother and I conducted with a day long canning extravaganza. You can read about it and see the results here: http://robbingpeter.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/summerfest-peachfest/
Can’t wait for next month.
OK, I’m fudging a bit on the tree fruit theme, but it’s the height of blueberry season in Michigan and I make a blueberry tart with lime curd and a gingersnap crust:
http://www.rustickitchen.com/blog/?p=202
And Margaret, thanks for the woodchuck advice. But Jeff, Jennifer and Jagger seem to have moved on their own, or more likely they’ve built another entrance that I can’t find. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for introducing us to the endless possibilities of of clafoutis! You’ve just opened up a whole new world of desserts to us, especially with using summer’s bounty of fruits.
You’re such an inspiration in both the garden and kitchen. Merci and thank you!
Welcome, RobbingPeter. Yes, canning of peaches is far preferable to freezing (they just don’t hold up so well in the freezer, sadly, by comparison). They also dry well, by the way, and make good “fruit leather.” Thanks for the reminder, and hope to see you soon again.
@Janine: Just remember what “The Terminator” said: “I’ll be back!” :)
@White On Rice Couple: And thank you as well. We’re only halfway through the Fest, but I think alredy that it has been a smashing success. I have so many new recipe ideas I have lost count.
Hi Margaret,
What a great idea!
I don’t have a recipe for Peaches yet because mine are still on the tree. Here in the UK we’re a bit behind on the ripening. But I thought I’d add a link to a photo of my Peach tree which is trained into a fan shape on my south-facing wall. I’ve got no idea what the Peaches will taste like but my mouth’s watering at all the recipes here. http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk/fruit/ripening-peaches/
Welcome, My Tiny Plot. I have an Asian pear espaliered on my south-facing side of the house, too, and it really is happy there. Thanks for a close look at this easy training method, the fan. Brilliant. See you again, soon, I hope.
Oh my, your clafoutis looks wonderful (and I love your orange bowl).
I like this summer fest. I made a blueberry buckle yesterday that could easily have been a peach buckle or blackberry buckle or….
Like April I have been busy making blueberry buckle, my favorite summer goodie. This year I went back to Martha Stewart’s recipe — after a few years using one from Cooks Illustrated. To me, Martha’s is best. I have no blog to post it so the best I can do is tell you it was in the July/August 2000 issue.
As for clafoutis, for years I have been wanting to make one and saving recipes and then just forgetting about them when peaches are ripe. This year I know I will finally get around to making one, thanks to Margaret and Martha.
Also, I just want to add that clafoutis aren’t only for fruit. The first clafoutis I ever ate was a Brownie Clafoutis and it was one of the best things I ever ate. It was a featured dessert at a long gone favorite restaurant, Farm Country Food, down the road from Margret’s place, in Millerton. After it closed the baker worked for a while in Ancramdale, but left there years ago. I have no idea where she is now, but I will never forget her Brownie Clafoutis. Maybe I will make one the next time I have some brownies in the freezer. Yum!
I always add almonds in my clafoutis batter: almond meal when I’m too lazy or (the best!) almonds (or sometimes pistachios too) grounded 1st with the sugar. It adds texture and besides, almonds are good with almost any fruits: cherries, rhubarb, apricots, peaches…
I happened to buy lots of apricots lately: there’re very good fresh but I like to put them in desserts too like that one:
http://sandrakavital.blogspot.com/2009/08/poelee-dabricots-en-gratin-de-sabayon.html
My mini apple orchard is just 4 years old and already its story rivals the best children’s fairy tale. Originally, I told my cousin who owns Sunshine Gardens that I wanted to buy nine “Anna” apple trees for a spot I designed to be a tiny orchard. I wanted “Anna” apples because I have grown them successfully before and love the fruit. My cousin (who should have been a used car salesman) said he would give me a good deal (read “Free”) if I took some apple trees off his hands that he could not sell. These particular trees were originally a special order for a woman who reneged and, in me; he saw the golden (Dorsett) opportunity to unload what he could not sell to the public. Ah, the joys of family. The caveat was they were not all “Annas” and several trees were no longer marked. It was a “take them all or nothing” deal. Although they were not all the same variety or the variety I had initially wanted, “free” is hard to pass up, so I took them, & the orchard was planted. …
(you can read the rest of this TRUE fairy tale on my blog -photos & recipes to come tomorrow and through- out fruit week of summer fest!)
http://edgehillherbfarmer.spaces.live.com/
Welcome, Sandra. This sounds delicious, and I love almond in all forms. Off to your site to see the details…
Love love love clafoutis – especially for breakfast! Love the peach version.. although we do have a glut of cherries here to deal with!
I have more stone fruit plans this week, but can’t let this one go by without mentioning Peach Pie with Roasted Peach Ice Cream – http://tinyurl.com/l4umn9 (That was last summer – this summer I tried Roasted Plum Ice Cream!)
And one of my favourite recipes of all time is brilliant made with any number of stone fruits – Plum Browned Butter Bliss – http://tinyurl.com/l8b9ry – is fruit topped with a crusty, golden cakey topping that’s better than cobbler, easier than pie!
Also love Martha’s Peach and Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake! http://tinyurl.com/nq3xj6
Margaret, thank you for dreaming up this fabulous cross-pollination project. It’s inspired me to write posts I might not have otherwise, and I’ve found other lovely blogs in the process by reading through the comment sections. You’re amazing!
A day late, but I did get a fruit-from-trees post in:
http://penandfork.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/nectarine-blueberry-crostata/
I love a good clafoutis, whether it contains cherries or stone fruits and your version looks wonderful! Reminds me that I haven’t made one in a long time and since we are having guests this weekend…….
One of my favorite desserts that is too easy to call a recipe is my Apricot Tart at http://tinyurl.com/l82uun
Another summer favorite using peaches is my Almond Stuffed Peach recipe at http://tinyurl.com/lxk9jd
You just HAVE to love summer fruit!
Deborah
Welcome, Deborah. Glad to provoke a clafoutis anytime. :) Off now to see your tart and (what?) stuffed peaches. Thank you for sharing both.
Welcome also to Julie…and to roasted peach ice cream! It truly is amazing how many variations there are here already, and that’s another new one for me. See you both soon.
Although all of these deserts sound amazing (especially the clafoutis) I went a different route withe the stone fruit and made a Plum Chutney:
http://www.edibleusable.com/2009/08/plum-chutney.html
Now I have to take some time and check out all of these blogs and recipes!