My Delicious Fig And Apple Custard Clafoutis

Our good friends have recently purchased a country home in Normandy: not far from Paris. They had loads of beautiful homegrown figs and they gave us a massive bag. I was thinking about our Paris Perfect cookery classes, so the first thing I did was make this divine apple and fig clafoutis. It’s a fruity and delicious dessert originally made with morello cherries, but the apples and figs complement each other perfectly.

No one says clafoutis – patoutis – it’s a rhyme I made up and am the only one in my family who finds it funny.  So just say, “clafoutis” in France. Clafoutis is a specialty of the Limousin area but it’s a treat in any location; its plump and juicy base covered with a rich, creamy custard is delectable.

I used an brilliant recipe for fig and apple clafoutis and after I made it, we polished it off in two days. First for dessert, then for breakfast the following morning.  It’s so easy to make and totally scrumptious.  What I personally savor in this special recipe is a tiny touch of rum in the custard – and most importantly – really good vanilla.

Here’s the winning recipe:

CLAFOUTIS AUX POMMES ET FIGUES

INGREDIENTS

For the baking dish:

2 tablespoons of butter

2 teaspoons of grated lemon zest

For the caramelized apples:

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar or demerara sugar

3 to 4 big apples, peeled, cored and sliced (if organic, don’t peel them)

For the custard:

3 large eggs

2/3 cup whole milk (room temperature)

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons excellent vanilla (more below)

2 tablespoons rum or brandy

3/4 cup plain yoghurt (crème fraîche or sour cream works well too)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

6 to 10 figs, sliced in half (you can also use dried figs)

METHOD

1. Butter bottom of baking dish.
2. Combine two teaspoons brown or white sugar with lemon zest; sprinkle over butter.

To caramelize the apples:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Peel and slice apples. Bake with butter, sugar and pinch of salt.
2. Use a silicon mat or butter a cookie sheet. Melt the 4 tablespoons butter, combine 2 tablespoons sugar, zest of lemon. Arrange apples on silicon/cookie sheet and pour over the butter and sugar mixture.
3. After 12 or so minutes, turn them over, coat with sugar mix and cook for another 10 minutes until a pretty caramel color.

To make the custard:

1. Blend eggs in blender for a minute until really foamy. Then, pour in milk, rum and brandy.
2. Add yogurt (or crème fraîche/sour cream) and 1/3 cup of sugar, flour, a teaspoon of salt and vanilla.
3. Set oven to 375°F.
4. When cooked, arrange caramelized apple slices on the bottom of the baking dish – reserve a few for the top. Arrange the figs all around dish and reserve a few for decoration.
5. Pour custard mixture over and top with extra apples and figs.
6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

I try to cut back on sugar wherever possible. So, I didn’t sprinkle the bottom of baking dish with the sugar and lemon zest mixture.  Instead, I added the lemon zest to the custard mix and blended it together. It worked a charm!

I used my delicious homemade vanilla syrup. See the recipe below: the seeds are blended with the vodka. Chef Christian is right, it adds to the flavor and doesn’t waste anything.

THE VANILLA SYRUP

I took the advice of our expert macaron Chef Christof on Rue Amelie. He makes his own vanilla for his baking. Put 8 vanilla pods in a jam jar, and fill with vodka. Let sit for 3 to 6 months before using. When you need vanilla, remove a pod, cut off end and squeeze out the vanilla seeds (and surrounding goo). It will add so much flavor!

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Photos: Madelyn

Posted on Thursday, September 28th, 2017 at 7:37 am in Food & Drink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.