Gourmet Galley for July 9, 2009
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I’m lucky to have a neighbor with a couple of fig trees who shares some of his fresh figs with me. He picks them and brings me a bowlful as soon as they start ripening. Standing at my kitchen counter peeling (or eating) fresh figs brings me back to my youth.
We had fig trees, and when they started ripening, my mom would get my brothers and me out early to pick them so she could start canning them first thing in the morning. I still remember those scratchy, sticky fig leaves. Perhaps that’s the reason I’m so grateful for that bowl of figs from my neighbor.
Fresh figs are very perishable, so you have to eat them right away or preserve them. My grandmother used to make ice cream (in ice-cube trays) with the fresh figs. I thought that was the best ice cream ever. During the season, dessert for us was peeled figs sprinkled with sugar and doused with a little evaporated milk. Now, I love fresh figs on yogurt with a little granola.
Clafouti is a famous dessert from the Limousin region in France. It’s similar to a flan, sometimes called a pancake, and some recipes are even called puddings. Anyway, it’s a thin, lightly sweetened batter, poured over fresh fruit and baked. The fruit was usually cherries, but you can use plums, peaches, pears or figs.
The recipe calls for a 10-inch pie plate. Our pie plates are mostly 8 or 9 inches, so they will not hold all the fruit and batter unless they’re the deep-dish style. I used a 10-inch tart pan that has a raised center that I thought would hold the figs up nicely, and it did, but it only allowed for a thin coating of batter over that center part. The pan edges had a nice thick edge. It tasted good and was easy to serve but I think it would be perfect in a regular 10-inch pie pan.
It’s fun to watch a clafouti bake because it puffs up sort of uneven and lumpy looking in the oven, but as soon as you take it out, it settles back in the pan. These are easy to make.
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