i bake films

the cherries came and went. they were hand-picked, sour and sweet. off-white, dark red, almost purple. purchased with care to be turned into cake. they spent time in the fridge, waiting to be devoured, swimming in clafoutis batter. but time went elsewhere.

 time flew by, sailing through new tasks, feeding, holding, changing a tiny baby. i turned into a washerwoman and my bathroom into a laundromat. the cherries thus went, straight into my belly for some, while others, rotten from all the waiting, dove straight into the garbage. composting is only a New York dream.

cherry season is over now but a summer without a clafoutis is like a summer without the sea. no matter how many mountain tops you climb, deep down, you crave the waves of cream, the sweet crunch of sea salt flakes, the bloody hearts of the fruits exploding in the heat. 

cherries are gone but there is still time to bake.

red fruits, stone fruits, apricot memories: Sicilian apricots falling from the tree and crashing with a discreet thumb onto the stone stairs while the world barely took notice. 

here blushed apricots bring their juices to the party. they love the ocean as much as buttermilk. depending on the flour amount, it will feel like a flan, a cake or both. it will be fruity and buttery, with crispy edges, and a soft inside. you can even add some of your sourdough starter. 

because by now you all have one.

mine still holds on to a virtual transatlantic life, between fridges, freezers and carry-on bags. these days he has mainly been watching the cherries rot in the fridge. if it had been a time lapse, he said, that could have been entertaining. an art installation of sorts.

clafoutis art.

APRICOT & HAZELNUT SOURDOUGH CLAFOUTIS

This recipe draws inspiration from a cherry clafoutis by Jean-François Piège - via my friend Caroline Mignot who makes it every summer. I usually make flan like clafoutis with lots of crème fraîche, but I loved the idea of a butter based clafoutis that is simple to cut and easily transportable for a summer picnic. Obviously, because I never follow a recipe, i swapped and added many things to depart quite a bit from the original. I added hazelnut meal  and buckwheat flour for a nutty flavor, balanced by the sweet acidity of a blackcurrant jam. If you add the sourdough starter, discarded starter or a starter fed at least 4 hours prior is best.  You can also omit the starter: clafoutis is extremely forgiving which is another reason why it's a great dessert to try out. 

60g light brown sugar 

+ 1 tbsp for the dish

100g unsalted butter 

+ 1 tbsp for the dish

6g of baking powder

50g white flour (T50)

50g buckwheat flour

2 small eggs

12 apricots

110g buttermilk

3 tbsp of hazelnut meal

12 tsp of blackcurrant jam 

2 tbsp of sourdough starter (optional)

a pinch of flaky sea salt

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Dice the butter, melt it in a small saucepan over low eat and set aside. With kitchen paper (or your fingers) generously butter an oven-proofed dish or skillet (using one tablespoon of soft or melted butter) and sugarcoat it. 

Halve the apricots and place them onto the dish, alternating rows: flesh side up, flesh side down. Spoon blackcurrant jam inside each flesh side up apricot. You could also add fresh blueberries or blackcurrants and add a little bit more sugar if you don't have a jar of jam on hand. Sprinkle the hazelnut meal over the apricots. 

Return to your clafoutis batter.  Beat the eggs with a fork or a whisk. Mix together the flour, baking powder and sugar. Add the beaten eggs and sourdough starter to your flour mixture and start whisking. Slowly add the melted butter, whisk some more, then slowly add the buttermilk: your clafoutis batter should feel like a rather thick and lump free crêpe batter. Pour the batter over the apricots rows. Sprinkle with flaky seat salt. Bake at 200°C/400°F for 10 minutes then lower the temperature to 180°/350°F for another 10 minutes. The clafoutis is ready when lightly golden and set in the middle. Eat warm or cold, with or without a scoop of vanilla ice cream.