Plum & Nectarine Clafoutis

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plum clafoutis 6

plum clafoutis 3

Clafoutis is not as difficult to pronounce as say some of the luxury brands like Hermes (I've heard it pronounces"Hermies") or Versace (frequently mispronounced as "Versaitch"), the impossible Loewe or let's not forget Jennifer Hawkins and many others calling Chanel "Channel". I made this for a friend once and she said "I made a Claufoutiss once and it was easy". She was pronouncing it incorrectly (it is klah-foo-tee) but I didn't have the heart to tell her that. Or perhaps I should have. I never know whether people want to know. It's like being told that you have spinach in your teeth. You immediately recall the catalogue of people that saw you that afternoon with a green flecked smile or whoever you mispronounced clafoutis to.

Pronunciation aside, this is a truly easy dessert and takes advantage of the abundance of stone fruit we have had lately. I've discovered I've got slightly different taste buds from Mr NQN. Fruit to me is never sweet enough and so stone fruits are ok but the only ones I really love are cherries and sugar plums. Plums are just that much too tart for me. The way to solve this is of course to bake it in a clafoutis and you can add the sugar and a creamy custard to counteract the tartness.

plum clafoutis uncooked

The method is over within 10 minutes and leaving it in the oven for 50-55 minutes means that you could easily serve it for guests. It is best newly out of the oven as it sinks when it cools and gets quite dense otherwise. I always serve it with ice cream but then again I have warned you that I am a sweet tooth. If you hadn't gathered that already ;)

So tell me Dear Reader, do you tell people if they have spinach in their teeth?

Plum & Nectarine Clafoutis

An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella

Serves 8-10

  • 10 plums or nectarines (or any stone fruit including apricots and cherries)
  • 200grams caster/superfine sugar
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
  • 5 large eggs
  • butter to grease
  • 1/4 cup flaked almonds (optional)
  • icing sugar to dust

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 190C/375F. Grease the base of the baking dish with butter and sprinkle one tablespoon of the sugar on the base of the baking dish. Cut the fruit in half and remove the stone and place cut side down on the bottom of the dish.

Step 2 - In a blender, whiz the rest of the sugar, milk, cream, flour, vanilla and eggs for 2 minutes until all lumps have disappeared. Pour overĀ  the fruit which will then pop up to the top. Sprinkle almonds over the top and then bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes until golden and risen.

Step 3 - Remove from oven and dust 1 tablespoon of icing sugar on top and serve with ice cream.

plum clafoutis 4