All content copyright Katrina Hall 2008 through 2025

Monday, June 23, 2014

Julia's clafouti with strawberries

Of course, Julia does not have a strawberry clafouti in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Vol. 1), but berries or cherries both suit themselves well to this custard.  I have tried many versions, but this is still my favorite, scented with a generous tablespoon of good vanilla and a sprinkle of nutmeg.  And it's made in a blender, so quick to put together.

I cannot believe how good the strawberries are this year, lucky us!

I used a 9 1/2 inch ceramic tart pan, so the baking directions are for that -  so if you make individual ones or use a different kind of pan, baking times may be different.












Clafouti with fresh strawberries:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Butter a 9 1/2 inch ovenproof dish , or individual ovenproof souffle dishes, set aside.

3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour ( I use King Arthur)
1/3 cup sugar
3 extra large eggs
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon good vanilla
pinch of nutmeg

2 cups of fresh strawberries, cut into quarters

an additional 1/3 cup of sugar for sprinkling over the strawberries

Place the cream, milk, flour, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla and nutmeg in a blender and blend on high until ingredients make a thick batter.

Pour an even coating of the batter on the bottom of the dish, then bake 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle the strawberries evenly , then sprinkle with the extra 1/3 cup sugar.

Slowly pour the rest of the batter on top of the berries, then bake 30 minutes, or until custard is set.  It will continue to cook as it cools.  If you want it to brown and puff a little, bake an extra 10 minutes.

Scoop out servings into small bowls using a large spoon.




A neighbor gave me a spectacular bouquet of all kinds of peonies from her garden - this is one of my favorites, but they are all heavenly!



4 comments:

La Table De Nana said...

I love berries ..I love this whole season.
What a pretty dessert..and peonies!

katrina said...

Thank you, Nana! I had to make one last dessert with those incredible organic strawberries that are so, so sweet and tart at the same time. And their color! And the peonies are shedding their petals slowly, but there will be more delights in the garden and farmer's markets - so grateful for summer!

Barb said...

Ahh! Strawberries are sooo yummy. Michigan strawberries are just in season now - small and so sweet! They aren't around long.

And aren't peonies just gorgeous - so flamboyant! (Maybe the Diva in the garden?)

Happy summer to you :-)!

katrina said...

Barb - I'm amazed! Sweet, organic strawberries for weeks now in the stores, and the farms around here are just starting the Pick Your Own days, so it seems like strawberry heaven to me!

Raining and thunder/lightning here tonight, which will end the last of those glorious blooming peonies - they've been just beautiful!

Here comes summer, for sure!