A couple of weekends ago I had a little dinner party at my place with my 7 closest friends, making us a total number of 8. Eight was the crucial number. My friends came over for a Swiss Raclette dinner and the Raclette machine we used had 8 trays, one each. My next post will be about that evening and I’ll have a few pics to show you but if you do not know what a Raclette is, imagine cut up potatoes, veggies, sausages, etc placed on a little tray which is covered with a slice of semi-firm cow’s milk cheese and then placed under a heat source to make the cheese melt. It is a really fun thing to do and the wine flows very easily.

I could not find a Swiss dessert to my liking – there are not that many to chose from – to stay in the theme so I chose a French dessert, a Clafoutis, I saw on The Novice Housewife who was my last Secret Recipe Club match. I wanted something light as well since we would mostly be quite full at that time after an open bar cheese buffet.

A Clafoutis is a baked French dessert traditionally made with black cherries arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. If you use any other fruit than the name changes to Flaugnarde. What I love about this dessert is that it is quite light, like a pie without a crust, or a sweet quiche, or a denser souffle. It was a big hit and was polished off on the first serving….I was told seconds would have been appreciated lol.

Ξ Cherry Clafoutis Ξ
from The Novice Housewife, adapted from Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups  cherries
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1/4 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• pinch salt
• 1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8 or 9-inch round or oval gratin dish or pie pan.
2. Rinse, stem and pit the cherries, placing them in a colander set over a bowl to catch the juices.
3. In a blender or food processor, combine the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, flour and the reserved cherry juices. Process until blended and smooth without over mixing.
4. Place the cherries in the buttered dish. Pour the batter over the cherries. Sprinkle the top with sugar.
5. Bake until the edges are dark golden and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean, usually 45 to 50 minutes. The clafoutis will fall when it comes out of the oven; cool on a wire rack. Serve warm into 6 to 8 portions.

Note: I could not find fresh cherries in winter at a price that was reasonable so I got dried cherries which I re-hydrated in hot water.  The taste was perfect but it looks a bit different without big plump dark red spheres.