In my youth, I acquired a taste for Armagnac after I liberated a very nice bottle of the stuff from a French television chef who was being horrible to me and since that time, the amount of Armagnac I've drunk in Gascony could float a battleship. And I've actually been looking for a good clafoutis recipe because I've always been hit or miss with them so I will definitely be giving this a go
I love everything about this post. A great recipe made even more valuable by the annotations and experience behind them. It also happens to be one of my favourite things to eat and I am looking forward to making your recipe very much
I love following you through this revisiting of your clafoutis recipe, it's so interesting the small (and sometimes large) changes we find we would make to recipes written years ago. A clafoutis recipe I've been making for years was given to me by a friend in Burgundy and I've always used fresh fruit. This prune version sounds incredible, definitely will make this soon.
So interesting to see your annotated recipe. I’m always editing/updating my own recipes. They are always evolving. The cornmeal variation sounds a bit like migliaccio. Valentina’s photos are gorgeous. A lovely collaboration.
Cornmeal! There is much in common between Gascony and northern Italy- a corn belt runs to Tuscany from the Adour valley near Bayonne, so la cruchade (polenta), taloa, (flat cakes), and millas and millasous (desserts) were established early on by Basque navigators returning from the Americas.
I loved reading your notes along side the recipe - the real life experience as opposed to the carefully written one! I dried some prune plums a couple of weeks ago and I'm thinking they will be just the thing for a clafoutis.
This was lovely, and I love clafoutis too, it’s one of my favourites, especially if I can pick enough cherries from the trees before the birds get them. I put some ground almonds in mine, halving the flour, great with the cherries or raspberries. I’ll have to try it with prunes. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Thank you! I definitely need to try this again as I have a hit or miss record with clafoutis. Perhaps my oven was too hot the last time or I simply baked it for too long trying to chase that lovely burnished top. This gives me the confidence to try again.
Kate, I love this--love the generosity and the friendship that began, who would believe, in social media and evolved in real life. I have not read Valentina yet but of course I shall so so eagerly and, given her subject, probably subscribe to her page. Meanwhile, a couple of comments on your comments on how a recipe itself evolves with time and practice:
1) a very gifted chef I once knew, gifted but not a culinary graduate (sometimes they are the very best chefs) pronounced it kah-FLOO-ty. I've called it that ever since!
2) How about using a naturally fragrant tea--Earl Gray immediately sprang to mind, but also perhaps chamomile? And then incorporating it, like the Armagnac, into the latter?
3) Thank you for the comment about preheating the oven. Every damned American recipe for anything baked begins with preheating the oven. And then you discover the recipe has several looong processes while your 450º oven merrily continues to burn fossil fuels and add to your electric bill.
4) Equally, thank you for using one bowl. Again, most American recipes for almost any kind of baking call for two bowls, one for dry ingredients, one for wet. I do this myself and promise that hereafter I shall stop. I think one major thing that keeps people from cooking is the incredible amount of cleanup involved in many recipes. Use one bowl, not two, and you save time and mess and cook's woes.
Thank you wonderful Nancy for your thoughtful replies. And yes, tea is often promoted to plump up very dried prunes, and I think Earl Grey or the tisanes I like-verveine and chamomile, do work, but I would be careful not to add too much of the liquid into the batter. But did you know there is an extra process used here in France for making the best pruneaux? It's called "Sleeving" and involves placing the previously completely dried prunes in a metal sleeve, (or plastic sac these days) and plunging it in hot water so the prunes rehydrate and the steaming tenderises the skins. So when you buy dried plums or prunes in France, they will remain moist and skins will be tender and are sold in hermetically sealed plastic packaging that has been pasturized so they have a long shelf life. Wish I could send you some!
Thank you Kate. I have been making clafoutis for many many years first I. The season with cherries then later with apricots, etc. Rarely turns out anything other than good to perfect. This summer in Melbourne I had one perfect then 3!!! very ordinary to not very good at all. Have no idea why. Perhaps I was hurrying. Perhaps I used too much fruit. Have no idea. But a lifetime of cooking has taught me that this happens to the best of cooks. Now it is autumn I will make a pruneaux version. Fingers crossed. 😊
Wow, I hadn't known about Millas and now I can't wait to give that a go. Anything with cornmeal is always comforting and textured.
I so agree- I could eat la cruchade, millas, polenta, etc every day!
Beautiful!
In my youth, I acquired a taste for Armagnac after I liberated a very nice bottle of the stuff from a French television chef who was being horrible to me and since that time, the amount of Armagnac I've drunk in Gascony could float a battleship. And I've actually been looking for a good clafoutis recipe because I've always been hit or miss with them so I will definitely be giving this a go
Oh Armagnac! The best kept secret of Gascony. Enjoy! We ended up tasting this clafoutis with a glass of Floc, Armagnac would not have been amiss.
I love everything about this post. A great recipe made even more valuable by the annotations and experience behind them. It also happens to be one of my favourite things to eat and I am looking forward to making your recipe very much
So nice to hear that Mark. Let me know how things turn out!
I will!
I love following you through this revisiting of your clafoutis recipe, it's so interesting the small (and sometimes large) changes we find we would make to recipes written years ago. A clafoutis recipe I've been making for years was given to me by a friend in Burgundy and I've always used fresh fruit. This prune version sounds incredible, definitely will make this soon.
Thanks Cynthia! So nice to hear from you. I love how Substack can become a new forum for discussion as we gather round our writing. Merci!
So interesting to see your annotated recipe. I’m always editing/updating my own recipes. They are always evolving. The cornmeal variation sounds a bit like migliaccio. Valentina’s photos are gorgeous. A lovely collaboration.
Cornmeal! There is much in common between Gascony and northern Italy- a corn belt runs to Tuscany from the Adour valley near Bayonne, so la cruchade (polenta), taloa, (flat cakes), and millas and millasous (desserts) were established early on by Basque navigators returning from the Americas.
This is on my list to make but today was a rustic apple crisp after farmers market and working on cleaning the pantry
I loved reading your notes along side the recipe - the real life experience as opposed to the carefully written one! I dried some prune plums a couple of weeks ago and I'm thinking they will be just the thing for a clafoutis.
This was lovely, and I love clafoutis too, it’s one of my favourites, especially if I can pick enough cherries from the trees before the birds get them. I put some ground almonds in mine, halving the flour, great with the cherries or raspberries. I’ll have to try it with prunes. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
I like the picture of you with the dog
Me, too!
Thank you! I definitely need to try this again as I have a hit or miss record with clafoutis. Perhaps my oven was too hot the last time or I simply baked it for too long trying to chase that lovely burnished top. This gives me the confidence to try again.
Kate, I love this--love the generosity and the friendship that began, who would believe, in social media and evolved in real life. I have not read Valentina yet but of course I shall so so eagerly and, given her subject, probably subscribe to her page. Meanwhile, a couple of comments on your comments on how a recipe itself evolves with time and practice:
1) a very gifted chef I once knew, gifted but not a culinary graduate (sometimes they are the very best chefs) pronounced it kah-FLOO-ty. I've called it that ever since!
2) How about using a naturally fragrant tea--Earl Gray immediately sprang to mind, but also perhaps chamomile? And then incorporating it, like the Armagnac, into the latter?
3) Thank you for the comment about preheating the oven. Every damned American recipe for anything baked begins with preheating the oven. And then you discover the recipe has several looong processes while your 450º oven merrily continues to burn fossil fuels and add to your electric bill.
4) Equally, thank you for using one bowl. Again, most American recipes for almost any kind of baking call for two bowls, one for dry ingredients, one for wet. I do this myself and promise that hereafter I shall stop. I think one major thing that keeps people from cooking is the incredible amount of cleanup involved in many recipes. Use one bowl, not two, and you save time and mess and cook's woes.
Again, thank you! It's a gem!
Thank you wonderful Nancy for your thoughtful replies. And yes, tea is often promoted to plump up very dried prunes, and I think Earl Grey or the tisanes I like-verveine and chamomile, do work, but I would be careful not to add too much of the liquid into the batter. But did you know there is an extra process used here in France for making the best pruneaux? It's called "Sleeving" and involves placing the previously completely dried prunes in a metal sleeve, (or plastic sac these days) and plunging it in hot water so the prunes rehydrate and the steaming tenderises the skins. So when you buy dried plums or prunes in France, they will remain moist and skins will be tender and are sold in hermetically sealed plastic packaging that has been pasturized so they have a long shelf life. Wish I could send you some!
That's a helluva tip - thanks!
Kate - I love your writing and the stories you tell while presenting us with these beautiful recipes. Keep up the great work and thank you.
Thank you Kate. I have been making clafoutis for many many years first I. The season with cherries then later with apricots, etc. Rarely turns out anything other than good to perfect. This summer in Melbourne I had one perfect then 3!!! very ordinary to not very good at all. Have no idea why. Perhaps I was hurrying. Perhaps I used too much fruit. Have no idea. But a lifetime of cooking has taught me that this happens to the best of cooks. Now it is autumn I will make a pruneaux version. Fingers crossed. 😊