Not quite Limousin, but Cherry and Fig Clafoutis

It’s the end of July… the last of cherries and the beginning of figs; two of my favourite fruits. While I wanted to make dessert for tonight’s meal, I did not want something labour intensive; but something easy and quick to make.

Having just come back from a trip to France, I remembered clafoutis, a typical Limousin dessert made with eggs, milk, sugar, flour, and cherries. Traditionally the cherries are left un-pitted which, some say, is more flavourful. Of course you can do just this. It takes a lot less time; it may however prove to be a problem at the table if you forget to warn your guests and they bite into hard stone.

Using other fruits would rhetorically mean that the dish is no longer called clafoutis; e.g. cook it with prunes instead of cherries, it becomes  ‘fard’ and with any other fruit it is called ‘flognarde’. 
The basic mixture remains the same but each region will have a different name for it. This simply indicates that dishes have their own history from the heart of the terroir.

The bottom line? It really is a delicious dessert with summer's every colour and flavour.  

Cherry and Fig Clafoutis

While the traditional recipe calls for flour, we have used here a mixture of ground almonds and corn flour.

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

200 g caster sugar

125 g ground almonds

2 tablespoons corn flour

6 tablespoons single cream

1 tablespoon Cognac

500 g red cherries, pitted

4 figs

A knob of butter

1/2 tablespoons icing sugar

1. Butter a 30 cm ovenproof dish and dust with icing sugar.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
3. Place the eggs together with vanilla extract in a bowl and mix with the beater attachment until fluffy. Add sugar and keep beating until it forms a creamy mixture.
4. With a wooden spoon incorporate the ground almonds and corn flour. Mix to blend well. Finally add cream and cognac.
5. Spread the pitted cherries in the base of the dish.
6. Cut the figs in half and place them within equal distance between the cherries.
7. Add the clafoutismixture while taking care not to submerge the fruit.
8. Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 45 minutes.
9. Take out of the oven and dust with icing sugar.
10. Serve warm.   This clafoutis is best eaten on the same day.