*crispy waffle*

A couple weeks ago, The Minimalist in the NYT had a recipe for clementine clafoutis. Clafoutis is a classic French dessert, basically fresh fruit baked in a batter, not unlike pancake batter. I thought that it was a great idea because now we have tons of mandarins in the house at any given time (it is the season, after all), and I always have the batter ingredients on hand (flour, sugar, eggs), so it's about the easiest dessert you can make in a pinch.

I had my doubts, however, about the oranges. I discovered, of course, that yes, there is a reason you don't usually hear of baked fruit desserts containing fresh oranges (I'm not talking about orange zest or juice). The batter was delish, but the mandarins were, well, basically just hot oranges. Which is exactly as appetizing as it sounds: ick.

The next night, I found a better use for that great easy batter recipe: berries and nuts. Now, it's not the season for raspberries at all, but frozen berries are, obviously, quite abundant. I used toasted sliced almonds because raspberries and almonds are so happy together.

You can totally pop this dessert in the oven as you are eating dinner, and it'll be ready when you're ready for dessert. And with creme fraiche and powdered sugar, it beats warm oranges any day.

Oh, by the way, eat this for breakfast or brunch sometime. I won't tell anyone.

Raspberry Almond Clafoutis
adapted from The Minimalist
makes 1 9-inch clafoutis

Ingredients
1 pint fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup flour
sweetened creme fraiche and powdered sugar for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch pie pan, and tap out the excess flour.
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl until frothy. Add the sugar and whisk. Add the cream, milk and vanilla. Add the flour and whisk until combined.
Arrange the raspberries in the pie pan and pour the batter over it. Sprinkle the almonds over the batter.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until puffed. It'll be a little custardy inside, but it's good that way. Serve with creme fraich and powdered sugar.

Links:
NY Times: The Minimalist: Clementines in a Blanket

Labels: recipes, the sweet

posted by sheryl | 5:13 PM | comments (4)

The Pantheon, as shot by the little chica

It's been a while since my previous post, but hopefully some travel pics will make up for it. During the holidays, my mom and niece came to visit, and as a treat, we went to Rome for a few days. We'll definitely have to make a return trip because three of the five days were spent tending to a sick baby with an awful stomach virus, poor thing. Thankfully, we were staying in an apartment in Prati, where there was no shortage of good takeout pizza.

I had come to Rome with a list of recommendations from various articles and blogs. But after Day 1, I came away a bit disappointed and discovered that coming with a list is totally unnecessary in Rome; I didn't need to seek out the absolute best coffee, or ice cream or pizza because if you stay in a regular, not-too-touristic neighborhood, the great stuff will just be at the place closest to your neighborhood. Within a few blocks of where we stayed, we stumbled on a really good bakery, a restaurant that was happy to do takeout pizza for us and a shop dedicated to fresh pasta of every sort (which we unfortunately did not have time to try.) The standard of things like coffee and ice cream is high everywhere, so, like Paris, it's not necessary to go across town for the one that the Times or the foodies on eGullet claim is the absolute best. Ultimately, maybe my palate isn't so refined, but who cares? We still had some great eats!

I discovered that I found central Rome to be incredibly touristic (not a surprise, but still a surprise, like the crowds at the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain, yikes!), and I also discovered that when given her own camera, my 10-year-old little chica takes some really nice pictures. In fact, while I was getting deja vu while snapping pictures of Piazza Navona and the like (you know how you feel like you've seen something 100 times before, but not in person?), she somehow captured some interesting shots of the photographed-for-the-millionth time Pantheon and Coliseum. There's something to be said for seeing something for the first time ever!

Here's Dolce Maniera, the bakery where we picked up fruit tarts and croissants. Kyle and I stopped in here because we saw a group of old ladies standing outside with bags, so we walked down this stairs to this bakery which seemed to always be this crowded. The cornetti were really nice: sweet but not too sweet, and they had an orange taste to it. We devoured a bag of them on the plane ride back to Holland. Oh and can I talk about queuing in Rome? I got the impression that there is none. You push your way to the front, that's the queue. What was funny is that on this night, there was a group of Filipinas there (no queuing over there either, believe me), so the crowd was twice as pushy. Go to a popular Filipino seafood market sometime and you'll know what I'm talking about!

Chestnut vendor in the Campo de' Fiori. We all loved the roasted chestnuts in the street. The smell alone was worth the trip. All the vendors used these drum grills and the same yellow paper cones.

Another treat in the Campo de' Fiori. Pizza from the Forno Campo de' Fiori. Not quite street food like panzerotti, but still awesome. The little guy likes.