As predicted, following up my last post has been difficult. The past month been busy, and I haven't had much time for anything more than everday cooking. A few new things have been tried. An easy stir fry of braised red cabbage, pancetta and peas that works equally well as a main course or a colorful side dish. A delicious lemon curd layer cake that went over a treat with colleagues and family. Nothing that seemed like a worthy successor to the pie chart pie, but I'll never blog again if I keep thinking that way, so I have decided to (re)start afresh with something simple that I made over the Easter weekend: a cherry tomato clafoutis.
A clafoutis is traditionally a sweet dessert, most commonly made with cherries. However, a recent edition of Good Housekeeping included a recipe for a savoury version which looked good, so we decided to try this out to accompany our barbecued chicken. It's incredibly simple, but works very well and is aesthetically appealing (at least until you serve it - then it collapses somewhat).
Cherry tomato clafoutis
60g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs
100 ml milk
3 tbsp shredded fresh basil leaves, plus extra to garnish
150g cottage cheese
250g cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste, if desired
Mix together the flour, baking powder, eggs, milk and seasoning. Then whisk in the basil and the cottage cheese.
Pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish (that can hold about a litre), and arrange the cherry tomatoes in the mixture as you please. You can either drop them in whole or slice them in half and add them, cut sides down.
Season the lot with black pepper and cook in an oven set to 180 degrees C for about half an hour until the egg is a golden colour and has set. Garnish with the remaining basil and serve. Depending on how many people are dining, this could either work as a main course, with a green salad on the side, or as a side dish to accompany meat. Either way, it passes my mother's 'back pocket' test and will certainly be made again!
This I have to try!
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