I've been intrigued with clafouti for a while now. It seemed to me that it was basically a big 'ole pancake with more eggs (not that there's anything at all wrong with that). I've been very tempted to take my mom's pancake recipe, add an extra yolk, and give it a shot. When we went up to visit her over the forth, she'd beaten me to the punch with this recipe she found in epicurious! We had it with some sweet marsala on independence day after dinner of lamb and roasted vegetables (my vegetarian sister had morning star chicken tender substitute- but passed on the vegetables). We also had it for breakfast on the fifth, along with a nice bowl of oatmeal. My two favorite meals in one dish? How bad could that be?Cherry Almond Clafouti
(Serves 8)(Adapted from epicurious)
1/2 cup almonds
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar and 1 tbsp sugar for the pan
8 ounces cherries, pitted and halved
3 eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract
A pinch of salt
1/4 cup pastry flour
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Smash up the almonds until they form a fine powder. Place a saucepan over medium low heat and bring milk up to a simmer; do not boil. Add almonds and remove from heat. Let stand 20 minutes. Strain solids from milk and discard.
Butter a pie dish and sprinkle 1 tbsp sugar over the butter. Add the cherries, cut side up, to the dish.
Combine eggs, almond extract, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a mixing bowl with a wisk. Gradually and gently add in flour. Pour mixture over cherries and bake 30 minutes. Serve with powdered sugar.
