Cooks' dessert, ala Alaska

Posted by chefalaska

Posted: June 16, 2008 - 1:04 pm

I had the opportunity of cooking for an out of state guest last week, he was searching for Alaskan flavors. I presented a six-course meal, mostly off the current Crow's Nest summer menu.

For dessert I made a clatoufi(s), sometimes spelled with an "s" at the end. This is a traditional French dessert that is usually made with fresh cherries.

I call it a cooks' dessert because the ingredients are minimal and usually present in an average pantry. There is no weighing out, sifting, temperature controlling, agent leavening, the portioning is set with a ramekin.

Instead of cherries I stole some rhubarb from the landlord's garden. My favorite way to prepare it is to bring 2 cups water and 1 cup sugar to a boil, remove from heat and add about 8 oz. of rhubarb to it. Depending on the size, poach it for 6 to 10 minutes. Toward the end of the season, I sometimes peel the skin, it gets too "stemmy."

This poaches the rhubarb, gives it a sweet/sour aspect, and most important to me, still retains some integrity (bite) when you are eating it. f you make a batch of it, you can store it in the poaching liquid after it cools.

To prepare you will need six 6-oz shallow ramekins, the kind that provide lots of surface area, usually for a creme brulee. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees,and prepare a baking pan that can provide a water bath.

For the Fruit base:

mint leaves to chop up and roll with the strawberries
8 oz strawberries
8 oz poached rhubarb
both cut into large bite-size pieces

For the Clafouti batter:

4 eggs
1c sugar
1T brandy
1c flour
1 1/2 c milk

For the whip cream topping:

4 oz heavy whipping cream
1 oz spruce tip syrup
Whip the cream, when close to soft peaks, add the syrup and keep whipping until fully incorporated.

In six ramekins divide 1 pound of fruit evenly. Pour the batter over the fruit, bake for 15 minutes in awaterbath (uncovered is fine).Be sure to check with a toothpick for doneness if you hBae any hesitations or are using a deeper ramekin

To finish, fresh whipped cream with spruce tip syrup dolloped on top. Do this as soon as you are ready to eat it, if you wait too long it will melt.

Produce is popping up at the Saturday Markets, see you there!!

Any recipes or notice of events you want to get out? Send me an e-mail to
rkinneen@gmail.com

Thanks.

Rob

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