Ingredients
FOR THE CLAFOUTIS
500g cherries
125g flour
2 eggs
250ml milk
50g sugar, plus same again for dusting
a little butter for the pan
FOR THE SORBET
500g cherries
1/2 cup water
squeeze lemon
1/3 cup sugar
Summary
Cherries. They really are just so good this year, aren’t they. These two simple recipes may come in handy if you find yourself with a generous bounty of bulk cherries and want to really celebrate the bumper season before they’re gobbled up for another year.
CHERRY CLAFOUTIS (from Stéphane Reynaud’s book Ripailles)
Use washed, stemmed cherries, let the shallow cake ooze full of juice, and discard the pits at the end. A simple clafoutis like this is also a great with any summer stone fruit – a handful of peaches for instance (halved, stones removed), a little batter and voila.
Preheat the oven to 180oC. Add the flour to a bowl, make a well in the centre and gently mix in the eggs one at a time. Add 50g of sugar and then the milk to make a runny batter. Place the washed cherries into a shallow buttered baking dish, and pour the clafoutis batter over the top.
Bake for 20-30 minutes. Dust with extra sugar once cooked.
CHERRY SORBET (adapted from David Lebovitz’s book The Perfect Scoop)
If the weather is too hot for the oven, maybe this wonderful sorbet is just the thing.
Use a cherry / olive pitter (or a knife) and remove the pits from the cherries. Gently cook the cherries over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes, along with the water, sugar (or your preferred sweetener) and a squeeze of lemon . Cool and then puree in a blender. Chill thoroughly then freeze in a shallow baking dish. Every 30 minutes scrape and stir the mixture with a fork, until after a few rounds you have an evenly frozen sorbet. Alternatively chill the puree and then pop it in an ice cream maker.
