Strawberry-Rhubarb Clafouti

Last weeks's visit to the St. Lawrence Market yielded some lovely golden beets, wild arugula and rhubarb.

I've decided to turn the rhubarb into a dessert called a Clafouti to take to my friend Val's today for our brunch.  A Clafouti is a fruit dish covered in a batter. The dish is baked and the batter puffs up during the process. Often it is served warm topped with whipped cream or ice cream, or simply served plain.

Traditionally, Clafoutis are made with cherries only and French peasants used to leave pits in the cherries  for extra flavour.  Not sure I would like to dig into my dessert only to be greeted by cherry pits!

If you apply the Clafouti recipe to any other fruit, technically you are making a Flognarde.  But I am going to call this Strawberr-Rhubarb Clafouti since it sounds much more appetizing than calling it a Flognard!

As you can see from my photo, this is not a particularly elegant dish but as long as it tastes good that is the main thing! I probably could have used about 10 minutes less in the oven, so I have adjusted the recipe to reflect that.

Strawberry Rhubarb Clafouti

Fruit Filing:

3 cups rhubarb, diced  (about 3 stalks)
1 cup strawberries, hulled and diced
1 1/2 tablespoons orange zest
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon  vanilla
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized pot or deep pan and cook on low heat until the strawberries and rhubarb are tender and sauce has thickened, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Batter

3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and ensure your oven rack is in the middle of the oven.

Generously butter the inside of a 10" pie plate - a deep dish plate works best. Gently combine the batter ingredients until smooth. You can do this by hand, using a stand mixer or in your food processor.  The batter will resemble a thin pancake batter.

Pour a thin layer of batter (about 1/4") on the bottom of the pie plate. Set in the oven until the thin layer has cooked about 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and spread the rhubarb mixture over the set layer of batter.



Pour the rest of the batter over top, and place in the oven and bake until browned and crust has risen, about 50 minutes or until a wooden toothpick or skewer inserted into the center  comes out clean.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or, as we are with a dollop of greek yogurt sweetened with honey.

Rhubarb Chutney

I am really not a huge fan of fruit served with hot main dishes, but rhubarb is actually a vegetable and you have to add sugar to it to sweeten it for baking, so it really can become savoury.

The word "chutney" is South-east Asian in origin and generally refers to a vegetable or fruit based condiment that is flavoured often with chili and ginger, and aromatic spices such as coriander and cumin.

There is no limit to what you can do with a chutney as they can be made from virtually any vegetable-fruit-spice combination.  The only real difference is the base ingredient and whether or not they are sweet or hot.  Given that I want all of my family to be able to eat this chutney, I am going to stick to the mild side of life so my favourite Junior Chef can eat it too.  One day we will get that child to work on his spice metre! In time...

This week I will serve this chutney with a nice slow-cooked pork loin roast or thick cut pork loin chops with purple fingerling potatoes.  Kind of an homage to Lynn Crawford and the dinner we had at her fabulous Ruby Watchco to celebrate our May occasions - my birthday, Mother's Day, our anniversary and Brenden's birthday.

This is a very cool pic of Justin with Chef Lynn in her kitchen.  She was incredible with him and so kind.  He of course charmed her completely - he is a smoothie with the ladies.  When we left the restaurant he actually asked if they needed a door boy..  LOL.

This recipe is kind of a combination of a variety of recipes I found on-line, modified to taste how I wanted it to taste and what I had on hand.

Rhubarb Chutney

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger root
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

3 stalks rhubarb, diced
1 large white onion, diced
2/3 cup golden raisins

Combine sugar, vinegar and spices in a large pan and simmer until sugar is dissolved.  Add rhubarb, onion and raisins.  Increase heat to medium-high and cook until rhubarb is tender and mixture thickens slightly, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

This recipe made about 1 litre of chutney.  If you plan to keep it for more than a few weeks, place the jars in a hot water bath and process for about 10 minutes in boiling water.