As Much Fun To Say As It Is To Eat

Clafouti! Say it with me. Cla-fou-ti. I also sometimes resorted to calling it Cloud-footie. For those of your who don't know what this is--I certainly didn't before I saw Alton Brown make it on "Good Eats"--this is a really simple French dish. Here's the recipe...



Clafouti

Ingredients

• 12 ounces fresh or frozen cherries
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• Butter, for the Dutch oven

Directions
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F or prepare charcoal for cooking outdoors by heating coals in a chimney starter until hot and ashy.
Butter the bottom and sides of a 5-quart Dutch oven. If using fresh cherries, rinse, stem and pit the cherries. If using frozen, place the cherries into a colander and allow to thaw completely before using. Discard the juice. Spread the cherries evenly over the bottom of the Dutch oven.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until frothy and lightened in color. Add the milk, vanilla and flour and whisk to combine. Pour the batter over the cherries.
Oven Baking

Bake on the middle rack, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until golden on top and a knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle.
Outdoor Coals

Place 18 to 19 coals on a Dutch oven table. Place a cooling rack, or other wire rack, that is at least 2-inches high, directly over the coals. Place the Dutch oven on the rack directly over the coals. Cover with the lid and place 22 to 23 coals on top. Cook with the lid on for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another 5 minutes or until golden on top and a knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle.
Allow to cool for 30 minutes before removing from the Dutch oven, slicing and serving.
I had frozen cherries leftover from something else, so I just thawed them under running water and pitted them with my fingers. Works much better than a cherry pitter.

Ah, the cast iron skillet. Now that's a real woman's tool!

Mmmm, fruity!

Voila! Simple and so delicious! This can be a dessert, breakfast, or a snack.

I love that this is a multi-method recipe. I'm way more of an oven girl than a grill girl. You can also use a whole bunch of other types of fruit. Oddly enough, the day after I made this, my friend Jennifer at work started talking about Clafouti and mentioned that she likes it with apples. You can also top it with powdered sugar or honey, which is what I did.

Seriously, this is the easiest recipe and so tasty. I will spare you the annoyance my husband had to endure, though, as I said the name about 5,963 times while I made it and ate the leftovers.