Sour Cherry Clafoutis

While everyone was busy with the apricot jam, I decided to pick some of the cherries and make a clafoutis. I asked Pava if it would be all right as their tree was already picked clean and made into juice for the winter. The other tree, almost beside it, belongs to the neighbour and he had never touched it. It was heavy with fruit and this is the one I would be picking from. She said she was sure he wouldn’t mind as he had already wasted so much of his good fruit. Waste is an unusual thing to see in this region, and really troublesome, so I got right at it!

I have never made one before, but I knew they were simple to make, perfect for a heavy pan, and the outdoor fire oven was already hot from the fire built inside of the stove to heat the apricot jam. I was excited! It took me awhile to figure out how to best pick the cherries, and that the bright red ones would actually taste better than the darkest ones that had already started to ferment right on the tree.

I got half a big bowl full, and thought that would be a good 2-3 cups of cherries once I had them pitted. I washed them in a colander in the outdoor sink, and then set to work pitting them. These are so small, you just squeeze the tiny pit out with your fingers. It also took me a while to work out a system that was efficient. It still took me a good thirty minutes just to pit all of these. But, that was fine as the boys were still grinding the apricots for the jam, so the oven would still be hot, and no one else needed my help yet.

Are they not beautiful ruby jewels? I then strained them and ended up with a considerable amount of gorgeous, very flavourful juice. It tasted like the juice from the sour pitted cherries I sometimes buy in a jar from The Italian Centre, but vibrant and more tart.

Now for the clafoutis recipe”¦

In this region, free range organic eggs are the norm. The rich yellow yolks are their signature of goodness.

The eggs have been mixed with the sugar, and the vanilla sugar is added, then the milk.

One cup of flour is gently mixed in and then poured over the cherries in a well greased heavy pan.

The cherry juices were beginning to run into the batter as I took it outside to the oven. I am just old enough to have had a grandmother who had one of these stoves in her home when I was young. It was much bigger that this one, and the fire was built in the middle where the oven is in this one. I knew this oven would be a good 400 F by now, and was just prepared to find out what would happen with the baking under these uncertain conditions.

Looked perfect to me after the required 30 minutes. We did peak in a couple of times, and decided to just go for it.

Cooling for the required 30 minutes on a stump that I am certain has supported many a cooling dish in its time. When it was cooled, I turned it over. I really shouldn’t have. Or, I should have, and then turned it back again as the first side was much more appealing.

A dusting of icing sugar could have fixed that up perfectly, but we hadn’t any”¦ so a little fine sugar sparkled it up.

It was very tasty, but too dense for my palate. The oven was clearly too hot, and this needed a lower oven to be as light and spongy as it is supposed to be. However, for a completely backyard home grown treat, it was perfection and a whole pile of fun to make.