A delicious Mother's Day

With a new grandbaby , a two year old, and a seven year old, I thought it was a good time to make 
Mother's Day brunch for my daughter and daughter-in-law for them, heaven knows they have more than enough on their hands.

  A simple meal preparation  (as usual) stretched into several hours, in part because a new recipe caught my eye and we know how that goes:)  pleased to say this tzatziki recipe was fabulous first time out.  Boneless chicken breasts marinated in a yogurt-garlic-cumin sauce overnight, then baked and sliced, a fresh, zesty celebration of veggies:  cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red onion and black olives, garlic, dill and parsley.  So good!   I served it with chunks of goat cheese  - as we all know, goat cheese makes everything even better.  Marinating the chicken in a yogurt sauce overnight made the chicken breasts incredibly tender and juicy and I plan to use that recipe often.  The whole dish was colorful and tasty, though I was temped to add more cumin and oregano, everyone else thought it was perfect as is.  A little side dish of sliced avocado and some warm pita pockets was all I added to the table - the kids love fresh, healthy food and ate everything.

For dessert, I made a platter of strawberries with confectioner's sugar, and Julia's strawberry clafouti with vanilla and cinnamon,  and some simple shortbread cookies , some chocolates from my son -definitely a Spring celebration!  And then?  They took us all out for ice cream sundaes at our local farmstand.  Somehow we made room....


Hope your Mother's Day was a treat as well!

cherries in january

It feels like it's been winter for a year right now :  ice, snow, mud, wind, ice, cold.  Accent on the cold.  But something did cheer me up when I was foraging at our local small supermarket - I found cherries!  Right in the freezer section, tucked onto the middle shelf, one remaining pouch of plain sweet cherries, which I snatched up doubletime quickly, before anyone else saw them.  And they're delicious.  I've been eating them slightly thawed  most of the time, but today being Sunday, I decided to make a comforting winter dessert - not too sweet, and not sticky, gooey, or fussy.    This cherry clafouti is all those things, and I'm delighted to know I can now make this summery dessert even in the middle of winter.

I've made Julia's traditional clafouti batter, but never made a clafouti with cherries, which was the original fruit for them.  I made blueberry and strawberry clafoutis in the summer, but never cherry, silly me.  I used a different batter, from The Essential Mediterranean cookbook I picked up at Border's before they closed.  I think it cost $4 on the sale table, and the pictures are lovely.

Clafoutis are similar to frittatas, if you've ever made them - not puffy or cakey, but a dense,  light mixture of milk and cream, a little flour and sugar, eggs, and fresh fruit.  They whip up in ten minutes, and bake for 40 minutes , giving you plenty of time to set the table and stir the soup.

To make one 10 inch clafouti:

Lightly butter a pie pan - I used a ceramic fluted pie/tart pan.
Preheat oven to 350F.

1 heaping cup of frozen cherries, pitted
3/4 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour
2 extra large eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup milk ( I used 2%)
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 oz. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
pinch of nutmeg, kosher salt, and about 1/3 t. vanilla
confectioner's sugar for dusting

Spread the cherries over the bottom of the pie pan.

In mixer bowl, add the flour and then the eggs and mix well.
Add the sugar, milk, cream and butter, and the nutmeg, vanilla, and salt, to the flour mixture, just until combined and smooth.  Do not overbeat.

Pour the batter over the cherries and bake for 40 minutes, or until the top is firm when gently pressed.

Remove to cool, then cut into slices and dust with confectioner's sugar.

Enjoy!

sweet strawberry clafouti with black pepper and nutmeg

What a beautiful day it is! The sun is shining, the queen anne's lace is blooming, and it isn't so hot that I can't use the oven. I wandered the garden, picking pineapple sage here, and the last lemon lily there, and some sweet twiggy branches with tiny cherry colored blossoms - the first summer bouquet .

The strawberries were coming to room temperature on the counter, and instead of making meringues with whipped cream and strawberries, I pulled out my recipe for Julia's wonderful strawberry clafouti custard. 40 minutes later I was spooning it up with a happy hum, inhaling the scent of strawberries and nutmeg - and a last minute grind of fresh black pepper. The nutmeg and pepper are my own traditional additions to her classic dessert.

Makes four or five individual clafoutis, depending on ramekin size, or use one large shallow casserole dish.

To make:

1 1/2 cups light cream ( or use half cream, half milk)

1 T. good vanilla

1/3 cup sugar

3 medium or large eggs

pinch of kosher salt

1/8 t. nutmeg

1/2 cup all purpose flour (I use King Arthur)

about 2 cups trimmed and quartered strawberries

a few grinds of pepper

Butter the ovenproof dish or dishes you are using.

Preheat oven to 325F

In a blender, combine the milk/cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt,nutmeg, and flour. Whiz in the blender until well mixed.

Evenly divide the strawberries between the dish or dishes, then pour no more than 2 inches of batter over the berries.

Grind a little pepper on top of the mixture, and slip into the oven.

Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until custard is set and top is a very light golden brown.

Let cool, then serve as soon as the custard has cooled.

If not using right away, you can place in fridge, but sometimes there can be staining from the fruit, so it's best to make just before you plan to eat it.

Enjoy your day!