Asparagus and Tomato Clafoutis

And now for something completely different! I don't usually post anything savoury on here, but this was so tasty that I wanted to share it.
I posted a recipe not long ago for a clafoutis, which we love. Looking through some old French cookery magazines of recipes for summer [making the most of the sun!] I found this recipe for a savoury version.
Local asparagus will soon be gone, so this is a different way of making the most of it.

100g asparagus
10 cherry tomatoes
20cl of whole milk
25cl of single cream
2 eggs
4 tbspn plain flour
salt and pepper

Preheat oven 180C/gas4
4 ramekins or an oven-proof dish about 20cm.

If you're using ramekins, cut the asparagus into 2 or 3 pieces, then wash and dry the tomatoes.

In a bowl mix the eggs, milk and cream, season, then fold in the flour and beat with a whisk till it's all combined.

Put the asparagus and tomatoes in the bottom of a greased ovenproof dish, or if using ramekins, as I did, put a couple of pieces of asparagus and 2 or 3 tomatoes in the bottom. Pour the egg mixture over and bake for about 40 mins.

You can serve it hot or cold.

I made mine in shallow ramekins and decorated with some basil leaves. Good contrast between the soft texture of the savoury custard, the asparagus and the soft tomatoes. They made a tasty light meal with some green salad. The recipe could be adapted in so many ways using different veg. I'll certainly make it again.

Blackcurrant Clafoutis

 Am having a clear out of last year's fruit from the freezer, and found a bag of blackcurrants lurking in the depths. I have to say that they're not my favourite fruit - not sweet enough for me, but OH loves them. What to do with them? Didn't want another crumble or tart, so had a look in one of my cookbooks and found a recipe for an apple clafoutis - I was sure that blackcurrants would work just as well.
What is a clafoutis? A batter pudding/flan with fruit, usually cherries.
I 've seen many recipes for the batter, including one using yeast; I read through this one, then did it the wrong way round - beating the melted butter and sugar together instead of the sugar and eggs, but it didn't seem to have made any difference. I was a bit worried that the blackcurrants would be too tart, but in the sweet batter they were fine.


Preheat oven 220C/gas7 and grease a gratin dish with a little butter.


Put 500g of fresh or frozen blackcurrants [or cherries, thinly sliced apples, plums, blueberries] into the dish.
Beat 2 eggs with 100g of caster sugar and a tspn of vanilla extract. Stir in 150g of plain flour, 400ml of milk and 100g of melted butter till well mixed. Pour this batter over the fruit and bake for about 30 mins [if you're using frozen fruit, add another 5-10 mins].

 

I used the gratin dish I bought from a pottery in Alsace. The clafoutis had a good texture hot, but I preferred it cold.

I know it doesn't look very appetising in this photo, but there's a great contrast between the tart fruit and the sweet batter. It's more solid now it's cold.