Clafoutis

We recently visited the Lake District for the first time ever and found that immensely entertaining.

It rained pretty much every day but that is what waterproofs are for, isn't it? We drove there from Dartmouth and decided to stop off en route both on the way up and on the way back. The nearest halfway town , (sort of) was Ludlow and we booked there both ways at an old inn called The Feathers.

The Feathers Inn

Ludlow must have the biggest collection of 17th Century houses that I have ever seen; property prices that are disturbingly low; and, the noisiest Friday night crowd rampaging through the streets of the town that I have heard in a good while. Perhaps property prices in the town reflect an underlying social issue?

However, it's not Ludlow or Windermere or even the Cats Bell (which we climbed in the pouring rain and strongish winds) that are marked for attention here. It is a desert that I had at The Swan Hotel and Spar. Apparently it was new on their menu and I have to say that I enjoyed it immensely.

Derwent Water from Cat's Bell

I had no idea what a Clafoutis was until I later looked it up online. It soon occurred to me that it could go into my bag of quick and easy deserts for home to be served single portion sized in ramekin dishes alongside apple crumble and bread and butter pudding.

It's basically a rustic custard with tart fruits (traditionally cherries) and indeed what I had at the Swan was Cherry & Almond. I did a bit of research on returning home and found a number of recipes which I picked what I wanted from. The main source was Raymond Blanc but I don't think that he would have recognised the end product.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 200g fresh blueberries

• 2 medium eggs

• 45g caster sugar

• 20g unsalted butter

• 20g plain flour

• 125ml double cream

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• butter for lining the ramekins (4)

• pinch of salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C

In a small pan heat the butter to a beurre noisette and then set aside to cool.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until creamy then whisk in the flour and cinnamon. Leave for a few minutes and then stir in the double cream.

Add the cooler beurre noisette and stir in with a pinch of salt.

Line the ramekins with a little butter then divide the blueberries between the 4 ramekins. Top off with the batter, allowing space for the pudding to rise a little.

Cook in the centre of the oven for 30 - 35 minutes or until cooked. (Clean knife test)

Nutrition

For the whole recipe ( 4 ramekins)

Calories: ~870 kcal

Protein: ~13 g

Carbohydrates: ~68 g

• Sugars: ~59 g

Fat: ~62 g

• Saturated fat: ~36 g

Fiber: ~5 g

That's roughly 220 kcal per ramekin

Observations

The pudding will rise in the oven and then collapse once it comes out.

The fruit was added as is without macerating in sugar and liqueur as per many recipes. I didn't like the idea of ramekins with a caster sugar dusting either.

Curious deer near the AirBnB

Vanilla or almond essence might have added a little to the flavour but I didn't have either to hand.

Can be heated up quite successfully in the microwave the following day.

According to Chat Gpt, I can reduce the calorific value by swapping half the cream for milk to cut ~150–200 kcal and reduce the sugar to 30–35g of the total recipe. I'll try that next time.

It is a little like the custard in a bread and butter pudding.

Will definitely try again with different fruit and flavours.