What's a gal to do when left alone with a bunch of shockingly red spring rhubarb, a few spare eggs, and a meager cup of milk in the fridge? Why, make clafouti!
Clafouti is that brilliant French dessert made by pouring an eggy batter over fresh fruit. This bakes into a soft, vanilla-scented custard that is firm enough to serve in slices but soft enough to eat with a spoon.
Rhubarb makes a great alternative to the cherries that are traditionally used to make clafouti. Roasted in the oven with just a few spoonfuls of sugar, the rhurbarb becomes soft and slightly caramelized while retaining its signature tart flavor. The pieces retain their shape during roasting and baking for a pretty presentation, but then melt like jam as soon as you take a bite.
One of the best things about clafouti is eating the leftovers for breakfast the next day. The custard firms up as it chills, becoming ever-so-slightly chewy. Promise us you'll save one little slice for yourself and hide it in the back of the fridge for later.
Serves 4-6
For the Rhubarb:
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces, about 3 long stalks) diced rhubarb
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
For the Clafouti
1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (8 ounces) whole milk
1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest
pinch of salt
Heat the oven to 350°F.
Combine the rhubarb with the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside for 5-10 minutes to dissolve the sugars and begin extracting the rhubarb juices.
Spread the rhubarb in the bottom of an 8x8" baking dish or 9" pie pan. Roast uncovered for 15-20 minutes, until the rhubarb is soft and the juices are bubbling. Allow to cool until the rhubarb is just warm to the touch.
Whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Whisk in the milk. Whisk in the flour, lemon zest, and salt. (To avoid clumps, sift the flour into the bowl through a strainer.) This batter can be prepared up to 30 minutes ahead of time.
Pour the batter over the roasted rhubarb and bake for 35-40 minutes (still at 350°F). When it's done, the clafouti should be puffed around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean. It's ok if the middle still jiggles slightly, and the edges will collapse once the clafouti starts to cool.
The longer it cools, the most set the clafouti becomes. For a loose pudding-like dessert, serve while still warm from the oven. For a firmer custard, allow to cool to room temperature or serve chilled. If you're feeling fancy, sift a little confectioner's sugar over the top just before serving.
Leftovers will keep refrigerated for up to a week.
Related: Weekend Cooking: Make Crêpes!
(Images: Emma Christensen)
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Since there isn't a lot of flour here, I wonder if it could be replaced with coconut flour. Any thoughts? (I'm avoiding grains at the moment.)
Yay clafoutis! Rhubarb is my favorite, too, but I always just toss the raw rhubarb in a little extra sugar to coat before pouring over the eggy mix and it always turns out just fine. I kind of like the tartness.
I will have to try roasting rhubarb at some point though. It sounds so yummy by itself!
@surplusj - I actually considered using sweet rice flour instead of AP in this so I could share with a GF friend, but didn't have enough time to experiment. I know rice flour will gelatinize more than wheat flour, so I was thinking of cutting it back to maybe 1/4 cup.
I _definitely_ think you could use coconut flour, but I'm not sure if you'll need more/less of it. If you experiment, please report back!
My favourite recipe for clafouti uses only 3 TB of flour to 2 eggs. I've tried out a lot of clafouti recipes (we have a cherry tree), and find that the most tender recipes are the best; this one is the best of the best (it's the recipe they use at Guy Savoy in Paris):
http://msglaze.typepad.com/paris/2006/06/cherry_clafouti.html
Okay, at the tail end of rhubarb season, I got to make this.
I used a little less than half a cup of coconut flour, which was maybe too much - even warm it's on the cakier side of custard. I also used vanilla soy milk (because that was what I had), so the custard has a mellow sweet flavor, almost like vanilla ice cream - I wish I had used more rhubarb to balance that out. But still, delicious!
I modified this recipe and it was delicious: doubled the rhubarb and its sugar, omitted the cinnamon (I like unadulterated rhubarb), cut vanilla to 1/2 tsp, and substituted sorghum flour (Bob's Red Mill, again). The end result is a gluten-free clafouti with outstanding rhubarb flavor and creamy texture. The sorghum flour settled to the bottom to create a sweet crust with custard on top.