Monday, August 24, 2020

Covid Cafe: Fig and Thyme Clafoutis


Hello chefs of Covid Cafe. How goes it and what are you eating? We planted seeds this week for a fall basil crop and have been feasting on garden produce. It's a bit of pressure keeping up with the summer squash, but we're up to it. Today, Connie's all about the figs and baking a sublime clafoutis...

Connie writes: I've been obsessed with fresh figs lately. Tried two good pork recipes but this dessert from Ottolenghi's Simple cookbook was wonderful!

Make sure you use really ripe figs for this. You may be surprised by the size of each portion, but the sponge is so light and fluffy that it’s very easy to eat a lot of it. I like to serve this with vanilla ice-cream or cream. Serves four, generously.


110g caster sugar
2 tbsp red wine
1 tbsp picked thyme leaves
1 tbsp lemon juice, plus 2 tsp finely grated zest
12 ripe black figs, tough stems removed and halved lengthways
2 eggs, separated
50g plain flour
1½ tsp vanilla essence
100ml double cream
Salt
 
Heat the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 3. Spoon 60g sugar into a small, oven-proof, high-sided saute pan with an 18cm base (if you don’t have one, cook the figs in a regular frying pan and transfer to a square 22cm baking dish when it’s time to move them to the oven), then put the pan on a medium-high heat for four to five minutes, swirling the pan a few times, until the sugar has melted and turned a dark, caramel colour. 
 

Add the wine and thyme – be careful, because it might spit – and stir until combined and thick. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and figs, and set aside to cool. (If you are transferring the figs to a baking dish, do so now.)
 

Put the egg yolks in a medium bowl with 25g sugar. Whisk until pale and thick – two to three minutes by hand, one minute with an electric whisk – then add the flour, vanilla, cream, lemon zest and a pinch of salt, and whisk until smooth and thick.
In another medium bowl, whisk the egg whites with the remaining 25g sugar (again, two to three minutes by hand, a minute with an electric whisk), until they form stiff peaks. 

Fold gently into the yolk batter, then pour over the figs in the saute pan (or baking dish).

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the batter has risen, turned golden brown and is cooked through. Remove from the oven, divide between four bowls and serve hot.

 Rooster spur hot peppers

Because of the sheer time it takes to plant seedlings in spring, the Rudy and Karin garden is about a week behind the Spirit Circle, which means it's still delivering a flush of food daily.







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