Clafoutis d'onigons

Clafoutis, similar to a flaugnarde, is a French dessert, in which pieces of fruit are covered with a rich, flan-like batter and baked. Traditionally it is made with cherries (pits included, for added flavor) and it is a sweet, custardy dish. But flirting with sweet and savory is a fun way of developing new dishes and expanding one's palate. And so the cherries and sugar were replaced with onions and Parmesan. 

The original  recipe that I referenced was twice the yield of this recipe, and used Gruyere, rather than the Parmesan cheese I used (note: It was all I had in the fridge and still came out, which is a testament to the flexibility of recipes and the power of substitutions). I see lots more clafoutis in my future and will have to do a little more experimentation to discover even more great flavor combinations, and perhaps a lower fat version (substituting part of the heavy cream for whole milk, or even skim). For those of you on a low glycemic index diet, this is a great side dish, and could be replicated with any number of vegetables.

Clafoutis d'oignons

Serves 4 as a main dish, or 8 as a side dish

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

3 chopped onions

2 egg yolks, plus 1 large egg

5 oz heavy cream

3.5 oz grated Parmesan cheese (or other firm cheese)

Method:

Place a pan over medium heat. When hot, add the olive oil and onions. Saute until transparent, about 10 minutes. Be sure to stir periodically in order to prevent burning.

In a bowl, add the egg yolks and egg, heavy cream and the Parmesan cheese. Mix well. Add the sautéed onions to the mixture. When all of the onions have been well incorporated, pour the mixture into an oiled baking dish or back into the saute pan (only if it is oven safe), and bake for 30-35 minutes at 350.

Serve warm or cold, with a side salad or soup.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 84 g (1/8 Clafoutis)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 168 Calories from Fat 122

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 13.6g 21%

Saturated Fat 7.1g 35%

Cholesterol 114mg 38%

Sodium 209mg 9%

Total Carbohydrates 5.0g 2%

Dietary Fiber 0.7g 3%

Sugars 1.9g

Protein 7.0g

Vitamin A 8% • Vitamin C 5% Calcium 17% • Iron 3%

Nutrition Grade B-

Happy Bastille Day: Breakfast

Happy Bastille Day, everyone. I'm not one to celebrate national holidays that belong to other countries, but given that this is a food blog and France is the culinary mecca of our world, I thought it only appropriate to honor the storming of the Bastille and the excessive use of the guillotine by planning a French Cuisine-themed menu. That is a menu to cover the entire day.

Let's start with breakfast:

I finally bought My dad bought me a cast iron set (like a dutch oven, with a deeper pot on the bottom and a lid that is also a larger, shallower pot) on the drive back home from Chesapeake, at a Cracker Barrel of all places. But it was real cast iron for an unreal price and it was too good not to buy. (My dad gave himself some cast iron gifts, as well, so I didn't feel too guilty). For some reasons why you need cast iron, read here.

The first thing  I cooked was a loaf of bread, followed by calzones. Then I thought to myself, this shallow pan would be perfect for making crepes. so I woke up early, mixed together a batter, washed some fruit, and made sure Mike woke up in time for his first Bastille Day meal of the day.

Needless to say, he made it.

Basic Crepe Batter

As you know, the foundation of many of my basic recipes are based on the ratios found in Michael Ruhlman's book, Ratio. This way I don't have to search for a recipe every time I want to cook something. Rather, the basic ratio is memorized and I can add flavor and seasoning as I see fit. 

The ratio for a crepe batter is 2:2:1, liquid:egg:flour. (This is where a kitchen scale comes in handy, but it's not essential, just more accurate and is better than having measuring cups and bowls dispersed in a tiny kitchen, or any kitchen for that matter.) If you want 3 medium size crepes, I suggest 2 eggs (an egg is ~2 oz, 1 oz yolk, 1 oz white), 4 oz liquid (I used water, you can use milk as well), and 2 oz flour (I used all purpose, whole wheat flour would be nice, too). It is a very thin batter, thinner than pancake batter. To give it more flavor, add a teaspoon of vanilla, as well as a dash of cinnamon and/or nutmeg.

I then let it soak for 30 minutes to saturate the flour with the liquid, give it one more stir, heat up the cast iron pan over medium heat, melt some butter, then make some crepes. 

I used a measuring spoon to pour the batter over the hot griddle, starting in the center and then slowing moving out in a circle. Let the crepes firm up before flipping over, that way you don't have to worry about batter dripping everywhere and you get a nice brown color on the crepe.

We filled our crepes with fresh blackberries and blueberries and kiwi, topped with homemade whipped cream and blueberry preserves that I made last night. Next time the plan is sliced strawberries and chocolate. Hopefully I'll remember to make a pot of French Roast coffee and then it will really be on.

The third crepe was wrapped up for Mike to take to work, along with some cheese and blueberries. Whether or not he wraps the cheese or the blueberries in the crepe is beyond my power, but that is about as French as he is going to get during lunch.

Looking forward to dinner, though. I'm planning a multi-course affair. And for a little teaser, some of the prep work I did for dinner this morning.

Leeks

Let Them Have Soul, Ben L'oncle Soul

I've been reading French Women Don't Get Fat, deceptively titled to make you think it's a diet book. Rather it's a relatively transparent attempt to awaken the francophile hidden deep within all Americans. It's actually quite refreshing, given the bastardizing of bouef a la bourguignonne, a traditional french beef dish, by Julie and Julia, quite similar to the bastardizing of argyle sweaters during Fall 2009 (I'm taking to you Tar-jay!), but I digress.

Needless to say the francophile has been awakened in me, to the point that I've searched beyond the deep history of provencal food and haute cuisine that has put France in the center of the culinary map. That lead me to Ben L'oncle Soul. When I first read the name I thought it was some kind of French copyright infringement on Uncle Ben's rice, with the "Soul" added for good measure. But instead, it turned out to be a soulful Frenchman churning out covers of "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes and "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley like no one's business. And on top of all of that, dude doesn't even speak English, at the very least, not very well.

I can speak to his talent only to a limited extent. But here is Ben L'oncle Soul, performing a cover of Seven Nation Army. In this case, hearing is believing.