After three weeks of Karen's double-ginger biscotti, Nigella's pomegranate ice cream, Diana's marvelous miniature coconut tarts, my own homemade cookies, a gift box of caramels covered in white chocolate and topped with fleur de sel and one final, fabulous slice of left-over Buche du Noel for breakfast, my clothes are too tight. Quelle surprise!
Time to go back to lower-carb eating for a spell. Last night's dinner included baby rib lamb chops atop a little arugula plus broccoli from the farmers' market, dressed with browned butter and Meyer lemon juice. For dessert I made the above dessert from a cookbook by one of my favorite French chefs: Guy Savoy. I reduced the sugar a bit, but the rest of the ingredients were completely low-carb-friendly. J thought the result was fabulous -- company-worthy. My enthusiasm was more restrained. It certainly was better than no dessert at all, and it was more interesting than a bowl of raspberries with a dollop of creme fraiche on the side, but I'd have enjoyed it more if it had been labeled "Raspberry Gratin" or "Warm Creamy Raspberry Thingy." But a clafoutis is a cake--a very simple cake, actually a glorified pancake -- and this recipe lacked that comfortingly cakey texture.
Still, zipper-poppers can't be choosers.
Raspberry Almost-Clafoutis
(slightly modified from "Guy Savoy; Simple Recipes for the Home Cook")
Serves 4
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons sugar plus 1 tsp. for coating the dish
Butter
4 ounces creme fraiche
1 tablespoon framboise
1/2 pound fresh raspberries
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
Whisk the eggs, 3 tablespoons sugar and creme fraiche together until smooth and emulsified. Stir in the framboise.
Lightly butter a baking dish large enough to hold the raspberries in one layer. Sprinkle with the teaspoon of sugar and shake to distribute evenly. Layer the raspberries onto the dish. Pour the creme fraiche mix over them. Bake until puffy and browned in spots. This might happen in 20 minutes if you're using a copper gratin dish; my heavy pottery dish required closer to 30 minutes Remove from the oven and cool slightly, but serve warm. Powdered sugar dusted on top or vanilla ice cream served alongside would be lovely if you were a more disciplined diner over the holidays than I.
5 comments:
Now that's not at all fair! I love clafouti and that looks gorgeous! I've never tried it with berries - only stone fruits. I suppose something gooey and chocolate-y could have been better... but, as I fellow zipper-popper....
mmmmmm. I'm on the low carb way too and craving something sweet. I'll try this. Thanks. Beautiful too.
Want recipe for Karen's double ginger biscotti!!!
karen is the wonder who makes the trains run on time at J's office. I'll ask her.
My friend and I were recently talking about how technology has become so integrated in our day to day lives. Reading this post makes me think back to that debate we had, and just how inseparable from electronics we have all become.
I don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Ethical concerns aside... I just hope that as technology further advances, the possibility of uploading our brains onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's a fantasy that I dream about every once in a while.
(Submitted by qqPost for R4i Nintendo DS.)
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