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For a few weeks in a row, we got piles of cherries from our CSA fruit share. I love cherries, but there is a limit as to how many I can snack on before I get a little tired of them. I didn’t want the fruit to go to waste so I decided to try out a cherry clafouti recipe I watched Alton Brown make on an episode of Good Eats. The recipe, which can be found here, has a really short and basic list of ingredients. This was a huge plus, because it was all stuff that we had on hand. All you need to make this recipe is: – 12 oz cherries Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. To prepare the cherries, I cut them in half by running a paring knife all the way around the pit, then splitting them open by hand. I used the tip of the knife to carefully pop out the pit, and put all the cherry halves into a bowl. In a separate, medium sized mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until it has turned into a pale yellow color and is frothy. Mix in the milk, vanilla, and flour, and whisk until incorporated. This is the batter for the clafouti. Butter the inside of the dutch oven and carefully line the bottom with the cherry halves. I made sure that they all faced the same way and were spread out evenly. Carefully pour the batter over the cherries, trying not to disturb them too much. They will float a bit though, so don’t worry. Bake the clafouti (with the dutch oven cover off) on the middle rack for approximately 30 minutes. The top should brown lightly (though mine stayed pale for some reason). Insert a knife to check if it’s done; the knife should come out clean. Let the clafouti cool in the dutch oven for 30 minutes, then carefully remove it onto a plate. Cut into wedges, and serve. Although my clafouti didn’t get brown on top, it was cooked through and had a nice custardy texture to it. I actually preferred it cold, after it had been in the refrigerator overnight. The recipe is really simple and it makes a tasty dessert or a decadent breakfast.
– 2 large eggs
– 1/4 cup sugar
– 1/2 cup whole milk
– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
– 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
– Butter, for the Dutch oven
Lettuce – 1 head green leaf
Radishes – 4 each
Squash – 1lb
Onions – 4 each
Peas – 1/2 lb
Fava Beans – 1lb each
The peas and the beans will be interesting to cook with, since we don’t eat too much of either, but I’m really interested to taste freshly shelled peas/beans.
Our fruit share also included less fruit, though we did get a strawberry rhubarb jam, which should be interesting:
Cherries – 1 quart
Jam – 1 pint
Juice – 1 pint
A new juice this week as well, blackcurrant apple this time. Still sad that it’s the smaller bottle, since the first week was more than double the size. The cherries this week are a different variety from the last two weeks, and hopefully they’ll be a bit sweeter. Still more recipes to come!
]]>LettuceĀ – 1 large head
Garlic – 3 bulbs
Garlic scapes – 5 stalks
Radishes – 4
Onions – 4
Greens – 3/4 lb
We had a choice between romaine lettuce and red leaf lettuce so we chose the romaine, because we still had red leaf left over from last week. We also had a choice between ruby chard and kale for the greens, and we went with the kale because we had chard last week.
In even more exciting news, our fruit share started this week!! The email that we received regarding the contents was a bit confusing, and so we thought we were getting three pints of juice. Not exactly fruit, but we figured it was because it’s still early in the season. Turns out that we got three pints of cherries, plus a juice. There were several juices to choose from and we opted for rhubarb apple, since it seemed to be the most unusual option.
Cherries – 3 pints
Juice – one bottle
The cherries are slightly tart but have a great firm, juicy texture. They’re good for snacking on their own, but I’m hoping to bake with some as well, since three pints is quite a lot of fruit.
We’re still trying to cook more each week, and we’re getting much better about it. More recipes to come!
]]>There are lots of vendors and stalls at Pike Place Market but one that really stands out is Chukar Cherries. How can you walk by a giant display of chocolate covered cherries and not stop for a free sample? They usually have several varieties available for tasting, from milk chocolate to dark chocolate coatings and different kinds of dried cherries. They also offer other goodies such as nuts and trail mixes, available in different sized packages.
We picked up a few bags of cabernet cherries covered in dark chocolate, and some black forest cherries, which are covered in semisweet chocolate and cocoa powder. They were pretty pricey though, so it’s definitely not a snack that you can gorge on. But that’s ok, because they’re so rich and decadent that I found it hard to eat too many at once. They made a great little treat for us on our cruise, and they also make great gifts for your friends. Just make sure you don’t put them in a hot place because they melt easily!
Chukar Cherries
1529 Pike Place
Seattle, WA