The French people had lots to celebrate over the past weekend:  the victory of the French national football team, commonly known as Les Bleus, in the FIFA finals as well as their traditional July 14 Bastille Day holiday.    Invited to celebrate over dinner with friends, I couldn’t resist making the quintessential French dessert of Cherry Clafoutis.

Cherry clafoutis

Surprised to not find a recipe in my library of cookbooks I turned to the internet and found one I liked by SimplyRecipes.  Here’s their recipe:

Ingredients

2 cups of fresh sweet cherries, pitted

2 tablespoons of blanched slivered almonds

3 eggs

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1/2 cup of an all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of milk

3/4 teaspoon of almond extract and 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Powdered sugar for dusting

Method:

1.  Butter and flour baking dish, scatter with cherries and slivered almonds. Preheat oven to 350’ F
2. Make batter with eggs, sugar, salt and flour
3. Add the milk, almond extract and vanilla extract
4. Pour batter into the baking dish over the cherries and slivered almonds
5. Bake at 350’ F for 35-45 minutes or until lightly browned
6. Remove from oven and cool
7. Dust with powdered sugar to serve.

I tweaked the recipe a little by reducing the amount of sugar, adding the almonds to the food processor and puréeing them with the batter ingredients, and using half cream and half milk.    I used an apple corer to remove the cherry pits, which left much of the cherry intact and looking good.    The  result was a creamy and not too sweet baked cherry custard and the verdict was overwhelmingly positive: delicious in fact!

This is the season for cherries.   British Columbia cherries are so sweet and full of flavour at this time of year that a Cherry Clafoutis is a great way to enjoy them cooked.

The question is:  what wine would I select to serve with this?  In keeping with the celebration,  my inclination would be a French wine, either a sparkling rosé or a light Beaujolais, fruity and lively.

I made two Cherry Clafoutis with one in the freezer, ready to be enjoyed at a later date.    When I serve that one  I will decide on which of these wine choices to serve.   Other wine suggestions are welcome!

Bon Appétit

Reference

For full recipe details check out the Cherry Clafoutis Recipe at http://www.simplyrecipes.com