Oh So Colson

I don’t understand why people have to fiddle around with the recipe of this incredible dessert. This recipe comes from Provence (France) where it is made with cherries (the pips are kept in the cherries) and it contains heavy cream, some vanilla, milk, eggs, sugar and according to some recipes perhaps a bit of Calvados or Kirsch. I can understand why people change the fruit since it’s not always possible to find cherries in the middle of the winter (for example) and sometime cherries are incredibly expensive. However, one should note that when one changes the fruit then the name of this dessert changes to “flognarde” sometimes spelt ‘flaugnarde’. It is always cooked in a baking dish in the oven.

But there are two things that horrify me when it comes to clafoutis recipes (a) the addition of larger than necessary quantities of flour and (b) vegetables! Ah…what is worse? Anyhow I’m going to tackle both ‘crimes’ - well, they are crimes in my mind. Why ruin a delicate dessert containing fruit, cream with a little sugar which sates one’s desire for something sweet, but not overpowering, in the midst of summer. Summer is usually the time when there’s an abundance of fruit of some sort of another…and whilst you know that it’s a good idea to eat fresh fruit…something sweet sounds good and somewhat preferable to fresh fruit. This dessert resolves that problem of eating the fruit which is good for you and sating your desire for something sweet.

What is becoming of this divine but simple dessert, from Provence,  described in delightfully by Elizabeth David and Claudia Roden? Both clearly state that it contains very little flour as flour is known to diminish the flavours of the other ingredients. The quantity of flour in their recipes is quite small and in the case of a recipe by Claudia Roden, that I’ve tried, only 1 tablespoon should be used. I’ve tried this recipe using different fruits and a couple of recipes by Elizabeth David as well. None of them call for vast quantities of flour. I found that various recipes exist for this dessert on food blogs and in cook books often request up to a cup of flour (8oz American). Indeed, in the cookbook entitled “Diane Clement at the Tomato” the recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups (310ml) of flour! Ah…my next question is why bother putting so much fruit when the flavours of the fruits suggested to be included are gentle and delicate. Such a vast quantity of flour only smothers the delicate hints of such summer fruits such as peaches, pears, nectarines, cherries, blueberries, strawberries etc. This isn’t a dessert that should be neatly sliced and placed on a dish with some coulee of fruits neatly swirled beside the slice. Clafoutis is a dessert which solves the problem of an overabundance of fresh fruits but provides the palate with a delightful combination of custard and cooked fruit. Enough! I can only conclude that this incredible quantity of flour is designed to prevent the serving from sliding around or over the edges of the plate. My answer: don’t be greedy in one serving and just ask for some more. This is custard not a cheesecake and it is not supposed to be solid. So, don’t even think of adding gelatine to this recipe! If you want it to be solid so that it can be sliced and then jsut add more eggs. But if the chef concerned can’t cope with the concept of additional eggs since they’re concerned about too much too many calories the answer is easy. Just only eat a little bit of it each day and make the enjoyment of the dish last a few days. Savour the flavour and don’t gulp it down in one go. 

As to the question of vegetables?? I’ve been reading number of blogs and it seems as if the ‘in thing’ is to put vegetables in this dessert and to remove the sugar?! Why? I don’t understand. My only conclusion is that those concerned who are including vegetables do not know that a vegetable clafoutis is really a tortilla (from Spain) with vegetables without the sugar, vanilla and the flour. This ‘tapa’ as its commonly called is also called tortilla de patatas, tortilla Española, or Spanish omelette. There are also many regional variations of this classic dish once you start to explore the possibilities. It traditionally has eggs, milk, potato and it can contain green or red peppers, chorizo, courgettes or zucchinis depending on your geographical location as well as diced ham and peas. It’s really easy to make and does not require cooking in the oven. Maybe people would rather introduce vegetables to the clafoutis and to remove the sugar because making a tortilla requires hot oil, a frying pan, and a longer more involved process in contrast to the clafoutis which can be mixed, poured into an oven proof dish, and left to cook on its own in the oven. Maybe those people who have cooked a savoury clafoutis, I shudder at the thought of adding a vegetable to this dish, don’t know about how easy it is to cook a tortilla.