Just Enough: Apricot Clafouti

I have been planning to post this recipe for a while (apricots where in season a month or two ago?) because it is so easy to make and just hits the spot for me for dessert -- full of fruit, not too sweet, and a texture that is fun -- halfway between a cake and a custard. 

It's pretty much the same recipe as the Fig Clafouti I posted a few years ago, one talking about abundance. This recipe is just enough for 2.  Well, really it's a lot for 2, but we always manage to eat the whole thing!   

This is really just a 1/2 recipe of the Fig Clafouti, with a couple of tweaks.  To adjust for the apricots, I changed from orange liqueur to Amaretto, because I think almonds and apricots are a good combo.  To get fewer dishes dirty, I use the immersion blender instead of the mixer (but you could still use a mixer if you don't have an immersion blender ... or you could even do with a whisk).  I have also included weights for ingredients... this further cuts down on dishes as you don't need measuring cups!   The baking time is cut down a bit, as this will depends on the thickness as much as the size, as well as your oven, so best go more by how this looks than by time.   

Figs are back in season, so I will be making the fig version this weekend.  In the fall, I'm planning to try with pears.  And someday, I will do with cherries... which is the fruit traditionally used for a clafouti!

Apricot Almond Clafouti for 2

½ lb fresh apricots, pitted and quartered if large, halved if small
2 tablespoons almond liqueur (like Amaretto)
½ lemon
Butter

1 large egg
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) sugar
3/8 cup (3 ounces) milk
1/4 cup (1¼ ounce) flour
Pinch salt
2 teaspoons sliced or slivered almonds

Combine the apricots and liqueur in a small bowl.  Add grated zest from ½ the lemon, plus about 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to the apricots.  Stir and let sit for an hour or so if you have time. 

Preheat oven to 350F (or 340F convection bake).  Coat a 5-6” diameter baking dish (or something similar) with butter.  Pick the apricots out of the bowl (leaving the syrup) and place into prepared pan.  

Combine the eggs and sugar in cup for immersion blender.  Mix with immersion blender until pale yellow, this will take a minute or so.  Add milk, flour, salt, and reserved syrup, mix to blend.  Pour the batter over the apricots, then sprinkle with almonds. 

Bake until puffed and golden, 35 - 45 minutes (or 30 minutes on convection bake). The clafouti should be puffy, browned, and not jiggly.   Let cool about 20 minutes to serve warm.  

June

What a month.  I suspect Phoenix will set some kind of record for # of day’s in June over 110F, which was even more delightful on Friday when ash from the Ethan fire (no relation to our dog) was falling on the house…  Roy suggested that we go to the neighbor’s and start their fire pit, just to see what hell was really like.  But hot or not, we have had a great display of flowers on our night blooming cereus cactus.

I have been busy in the kitchen (as a side note: its way cooler slaving over a hot stove in the air-conditioned house than doing anything outside on the grill).  I made Apricot Jam, which didn’t seem very hard… just cook chopped apricots, sugar (2:1 ratio) along with a bit of lemon juice until its jam.  I didn’t make much, so it’s just in the fridge for PB&J sandwiches.  As a follow-up, I made peach sauce (which is really good on Roy’s waffles). You make this just like apricot jam, but with peaches and you don’t quite cook as long.  I bought a bunch of peaches at the farmers market so have more in the freezer… maybe I will try some peach jam later.  But I think that this week is the last week we will see peaches a the farmers market (and the apricots are long gone..  but still getting good tomatoes).     I also made soufflés for the first time… Its not that hard, but don’t expect it to be a week night staple – way to many dirty dishes. Let me know if you want the recipe.  

My adventure has been swimming class. The name of the class is the Mile Club (at the Awatukee Y).I figured this meant the goal of the class was to get you to be able to swim a mile.  What they really intend is that you swim a mile every class, which includes a bunch of drills where you only do one part of a swim stroke (like breath).  I really never realized that there was so much to think about when swimming, its almost as bad as golf.   Some of the people can actually swim more than one lap without resting (not me..yet), so  the swim coach said she would start teaching us flip turns.. and bring a video camera.  Let’s hope she doesn’t post them on youtube.

The biggest highlight was celebrating our 25th Anniversary (which sounds much better than a Silver Anniversary, implying that you should have grandchildren and drive a Buick).   We celebrated by going to Tucson and staying at the Westward Look (same place we stayed for our honeymoon), and having dinner at Janos.  Here’s to another 25!