Last week I posted a recipe for a
salad featuring the luscious Bartlett pears from my small but prolific pear tree. With the intention of not wasting a single one, I continue to plow through my plethora of pears, trying new ways to use them.
These pears are best eaten raw and fresh—preferably over a sink. They’re that juicy. But I can’t singlehandedly eat that many pears. So I’ve canned eight pints of pear-apple sauce. (I also have tons of apples.) And I’ve made that delicious pear salad several more times.
Last evening I made a pear dessert. I don’t make a lot of desserts. But while perusing Facebook a few days ago I saw a photo of a pear clafoutis one of my friends had made. I had my first experience with clafoutis last summer at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. The excellent cooks there made a cherry clafoutis that was quite delicious. Since then I’ve been curious to try making it myself.
Clafoutis (pronounced “kla-FOO-tee”) is a simple custard studded with fruit. From start to finish, the prep took less than 15 minutes, not including the 55-minute baking time. I based my recipe on one I found on
Epicurious. Instead of whole milk, I used cashew milk. (You can either
make your own or buy it in quart boxes.) I also substituted coconut palm sugar for the white sugar in the original recipe.
The recipe below reflects my changes, but you can find the original
here.
Meatless Monday: Pear Clafoutis
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
- 1 cup cashew, almond or coconut milk
- 1/4 cup melted butter (or Earth Balance if you want to make this recipe dairy free)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of a large lemon
- 3 large pears
Put It Together:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Butter a deep-dish pie pan.
- Beat the eggs, coconut palm sugar and salt to blend.
- Whisk in the flour. Then add the nut milk, butter, vanilla and lemon zest.
- Slice the pears and arrange them in a pinwheel shape on the bottom of a deep-dish pie pan.
- Pour the custard over the pears.
- Bake for 55 minutes until the top is golden.
