R E C I P E S

Clafoutis

By Edward Behr

The best clafoutis, the cherry-filled flan from the French region of Limousin, is powerfully, directly inflated by the oven’s heat, which turns it partly gold and brown. I once had, however, a clafoutis baked in a crust and served cool; the insulating effect of the crust ensured a heavy, gummy custard tasting of raw flour. Like the clafoutis, many regular custards include a touch of flour to sturdy them up, but a perfect custard contains none. What justifies adding flour to a clafoutis is the direct, intense oven heat that turns the custard into a bubbled pudding. A clafoutis eaten hot from the oven, still crisp here and there, has a lovely if ephemeral lightness.

For a long time I followed John Thorne’s particularly light and custardy recipe for clafoutis from his periodical Simple Cooking. What follows is nearly that but with a little more flour to give slightly more substance. American recipes for clafoutis, unlike French ones, often call for both butter and vanilla; the butter isn’t needed, but vanilla flatters cherries even more than it does most fruits. Put the clafoutis into the oven just as everyone sits down, or with a longer meal later than that, so when the clafoutis is done you can take it straight to the table. You may have to wait a few minutes for it to cool enough to eat.

In France, the cherries used for clafoutis are sweet, ripe, and often dark. I prefer a clafoutis made with sour cherries, including dried ones soaked in advance in water. Other ripe fruits, according to the season, also lend themselves, including berries and apples. In France, leaving the pits in the cherries is more or less obligatory, because they’re said to contribute their flavor and because removing them is a lot of work. If you leave the pits in, be certain to warn your guests.

15 gr (1 tablespoon) butter

65 gr (½ cup) flour

30 gr (2 tablespoons) sugar, or more depending on the sweetness of the fruit

pinch salt

2 large eggs (about 115 gr in the shell), at room temperature

250 ml (1 cup) milk, at room temperature

½ teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

about 300 gr (¾ pound) cherries or other fresh fruit, cut up as needed to make easy bites, or dried fruit, such as cherries (about 75 gr, or ½ cup), soaked in hot water for at least ½ hour and then drained

Heat the oven to 220° C (425° F). Melt the butter in a 22- to 26-cm (9- to 10-inch) cast-iron frying pan. Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, and eggs together until smooth. Whisk in the milk and vanilla, if you use it.

Add the fruit to the hot pan containing the butter, and pour the batter over it, making sure the fruit is somewhat evenly distributed. Bake until randomly, crazily risen, with touches of gold and brown — about 20 minutes. Serves 4.