Wednesday, August 3, 2011

This Blueberry Clafoutis Didn’t Get My Goat (Cheese that is)

I’ve had this wacky idea to try a berry-studded goat cheese clafoutis, so when I saw these gorgeous looking blueberries at the market, I figured the time was right. 

I had a couple ounces of leftover chèvre in the fridge, and was very excited to see if this possibly odd, but fundamentally sounds idea would work. And, everything would have, if I had only skipped breakfast that morning.

That morning I woke up starving, and facing a pile of emails and other less fun computer-driven busywork. So without thinking (literally) I whipped a nice cheese omelet, using the aforementioned cheese. D’oh!

It was a delicious mistake, and one I forgave myself for very quickly, but it also presented me with a tough choice. Go back out to the store, or just make a good, old fashioned, plain blueberry clafoutis. Laziness prevailed, and here you have it.

So, while I’m very proud of this clafoutis, I can’t help but wonder how much better it would have been with that faint, but tangy accent from the cheese. Maybe you could give it a try and let me know? I was simply going to add it to the blender and mix it right into the blender.

Anyway, goat cheese or not, this recipe is a great way to enjoy fresh, summer fruit, and as I mention in the video, this technique really lets it play the starring roll. I hope you give it a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
butter as needed
pint of blueberries
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
3 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
pinch of salt

73 comments:

Kdoorc said...

Hi Chef John!

I've got all those ingredients in my fridge, perfect! If you were to add in the goat cheese, would it go in the blender with the rest of the batter, or would you put small pieces in with the blueberries? Thanks!

Chef John said...

Yes, in the blender. (see 2nd to last paragraph) Enjoy!

Pyrofish said...

The blender, Genius! I've been using a whisk to make clafoutis all this time. I have 1 massive buff arm to show for it :-) Blueberry picking is fun if you go in the morning. Not so much after about 9AM here in Florida.

Next up for clafoutis, for me anyway, is a savory one. Been itching to try a savory one. As always, I enjoyed!

Anonymous said...

Super sad face. . . .is there any way to make this without the Milk? Usually with custard-y things thats a no. . . or will my experiment turn into a cake?

Anonymous said...

Hi Chef! Before seeing this post, I made a cherry clafoutis last night! No kidding! The recipe I used call for the oven at 375, and I found the custard to be a bit lumpy. I remembered from a previous creme brulee fiasco that one shouldn't cook custard over 350, since at that temp the eggs release water, which boils, breaking up the custard. So I was going to try a long and low approach. And here you are doing fast and hot! Sacre bleu!!

Healthy and Homemade said...

I love making clafoutis because they are so darn simple. I do individual ramekins with a chunk of nice dark chocolate when the hubs and I want a little dessert =)

Charter_113 said...

I think a little sour cream in the blender would be good too.

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh chef John!
This reminds me, on the weekend I had the opportunity to try blue potatoes. They are like blueberries in that they are blueish on the outside and purpley on the inside. I just wanted to give you a hint to try out this strange ingredient. don't worry they taste like normal potatoes!

Kdoorc said...

Hi again,

I tried the clafoutis with goat cheese and peaches (the blueberries had disappeared by the time I got home) and it was really good! I put in 3 oz of goat cheese but probably would have gone for a bit more, or a slightly stronger flavored goat cheese, because the tangy flavor was very mild but delicious. Thanks for another great recipe.

Chef John said...

Yes, you need milk, but what about using lactose free milk?

Yes, I've had blue potatoes many times. Very cool item!

subgirl said...

Soy milk or similar subs won't work, correct? Oof. I'll have to buy lactose-free milk. :/

Anonymous said...

tippy tip Chef John, while I think it's awesome that you have your recipes for free on youtube and your blog, write up a cook book and sell it! every recipe of yours that i've made is delicious and becomes a staple in my household, having a book handy would be so much easier that carting around my laptop!

Michelle | Bleeding Espresso said...

Looks so yummy...so sad that we lack blueberries in southern Italy. I really have to find some seeds and plant some next year!

Chef John said...

Great idea! You could be like the Johnny Appleseed for blueberries in Italy :)

Anonymous said...

Chef John,You are so good at what you do. You have stayed the same from when I first saw a video recipe of yours(pizza dough).There is always a line in each video that just cracks me up.

Anonymous said...

Chef John, can use strawberries for this recipe. And the strawberries in here are really sour, no kidding. Should i add more sugar so it won't be sour? Greeting from Indonesia.

Chef John said...

Yes, you can do strawberries, but they are a little wetter in texture. Not sure about the sugar!

Birder said...

OK, another whiney lament. I've got the berries, but no blender. Any way I could beat the crap out of this thing and still make it work sans appliance?

Chef John said...

Just whisk or shake in a mason jar!

Anonymous said...

Hey chef John, great video! :) question - What kind of flour is best for a recipe like this? Thanks and have a nice day!

Anonymous said...

Will that be a problem if the strawberries are a little wetter in texture. Will the texture of the Clafouti be affected? It's really hard to find fresh blueberries here and they are quite expensive to.

Chef John said...

Sorry I've never done it! You'll have to give it a try.

Anonymous said...

what?..no cayenne pepper? :D

Anonymous said...

Bad timing, Chef John. I bought 5 pounds of blueberries Saturday for $5 and they were perfect. I ate them fresh and straight or with whipped cream. I finished them up as you were posting this. Next time I'll buy more than four servings at a time!

Jim

Anonymous said...

By the way, they would call her Michelle Mirtillo Sementi. How would this be with water buffalo mozzarella?

Jim

Mr. Fowl said...

This looks like a delicious recipe but I was wondering if you could offer some advice. I got a set of ramekins recently and I've just been itching for a chance to use them! Do you have any advice with regards to this recipe or general tips?

Chef John said...

Sorry, but I've never tried as individual ramekins. Could work, but not sure about the time.

Amanda said...

Made this with strawberries today, SO good!! I added a table spoon of cornstarch since the strawberries are wet and it turned out amazing! Thanks again for the awesome recipe!

Anonymous said...

I tried this recipe with the goat cheese, but I was curious about how a little more tang would work, so I actually added a bit of creme fraiche to it also. Absolutely delicious.

Anonymous said...

I was like "What?! eggshell?? lol

Kowalski said...

Hello Chef John

Is it possible to use raspberry´s for this recipe ?

Rita said...

"...add the shells..."

AHAHAHAHA! i've inadvertently done that, actually, and stared at the shells why it's in the bowl. that's when it dawned on me. don't worry, i took the shells out before mixing the other ingredients.

that's an easy-piecey recipe that i just have to make tonite! as always... thanks!

Rita said...

by the way, i heard that if other than cherries are used for this dish - it is then called, Flaugnarde.

Jim said...

I made this today. It came out great although I had to cook it longer as apparently my dish was too deep.

Patrick said...

Made this tonight with fresh Maine blueberries and a third cup (give or take) of sour cream.

Marvelous!

Pics: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150744507905150.721156.589540149&l=1034014aab&type=1

Chef John said...

That looks gorgeous! Thanks!

Mark said...

I used bananas and peaches and it came out too wet and soggy. I'm not sure what I should do? Increase the flour? maybe add conrnstarch?

subgirl said...

My pan/dish options are an 8" square Pyrex dish or an 8" round cake pan.
Which would I use and do I need to adjust time or temp for it?

Thanks!

Chef John said...

those are probably too small :-(

tomalesbirdgirl said...

made this one with goat cheese. So yummy!!!! thank you chef john!!!!

Anonymous said...

Chef john im having trouble trying to figure out how much cups are a pint? i use metric system and im trying to find out how much cups or grams is that because i googled it and apparently that is a liquid messurement :S Please help
thanks

Chef John said...

pint is 2 cups. cup is 240 ml. btw, these are all volume measurements. You can't evenly convert weight and volume. A cup of lead doesn't weigh the same as a cup of flour. Volume is always the same, but weights change.

Patrick said...

Made it again tonight - it's quick and easy and delicious, and my guests loved it!

Some pics (with terrible white-balance, sorry): http://fb.com/media/set/?set=a.10150748788990150.722466.589540149&l=0012f590ea&type=1

Hey SubGirl - I made it in a square 8" Pyrex dish and it came out great!

Anonymous said...

I haven't even made this recipe yet but I bought my blueberries today and will make it tomorrow. I looked up 'Clafoutis' in Wikipedia, here's what it says:
The clafoutis comes from the Limousin region of France and while black cherries are traditional there are numerous variations using other fruits including red cherries, plums, prunes, apples, cranberries or blackberries.[2] When other kinds of fruit are used instead of cherries, the dish is properly called a flaugnarde.

Well....considering how difficult 'flaugnarde' would be to pronounce, I think that calling the blueberry version 'Clafoutis'makes more sense. :)

Anonymous said...

Why no to the blueberry picking? Is this another Chef John joke that's just whizzing over my head?

Chef John said...

Just remember picking with my aunt in NYC and it took like 2 hours in the hot sun to get a cup. :-)

Kirsten said...

Made it this week. Wonderful understated awesomeness! It was like putting halos on already perfect blueberries. Mmm.

Chef John said...

well said! thanks!

Eliz said...

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-

Ok, Stupid questions following:

1. I dont have a casserole dish... Could I possibly use a metal baking pan or should I hold off (>0<) on trying this recipe until I get a chance (and the funds) to buy one (or possibly steal one from my moms place xD)?

2. I also dont have a blender, would a Magic Bullet suffice?

Zahra said...

Hi chef!

I remember your cherry clafouti recipe once, and now this blue berry clafoutis..I'm wondering what other fruits would be good in it seeing how there's no berries where I am and cherry and strawberry season was three months ago.

The only small fruit I can think of, which is also available these days is grapes? Would it be all wrong? And any other fruit suggestions?

Thanks, would really appreciate some ideas!

Chef John said...

almost any fruit would work. Not sure about hot grapes, but you could give it a try. thanks!

Zahra said...

OMG! real-time commentary!!!

Thanks! ..and stil not sure about the grapes!!

Chef John said...

eliz, you can use any pan that fits the batter. Also, you can mix with anything, even by hand with a whisk as long as it's very well mixed.

Sarah said...

I made this and it was soo good, but I had trouble finding a similarly sized dish and so used two dishes which ended up with a shorter/shallower clafouti. Also used a whisk instead of a blender because my blender is broken :(

Eliz said...

AH! My heart skipped a beat when you said my name <3 <3 <3

Ok. I would assume that a metal container would heat its contents differently than a ceramic, glass, etc and was not sure whether this was important. Either way, I got my hands on a casserole dish :]

However! As I peered into my fridge in search of our vanilla extract, to my horror, I realized my sister had nearly finished the bottle - leaving but less than a teaspoon. So in my panic, I filled the rest of my tablespoon with almond extract. The pan is currently baking away in the oven and I fear I may have ruined the recipe ;_;

Eliz said...

Much to my surprise, the almond gave the clafoutis a rather.. very pleasant taste :D

Rose said...

Chef! It is 10pm right now where I live at in cali and since I'm so bored beyond death I decided to make this! I don't have have blueberrys and I'm to impatient to wait till morning to go buy some so I'm gonna try banana's and hope to god this won't fail. Umm haha I feel like I'm talking to a celeb its insane! Oh can you do a vid for deep fried ice cream! And you should do t-shirt designs! Your toooooo funny!

Anonymous said...

Chef John, I am so inspired to cook by your site and have tried several of your recipes so far. Thank you for your educational and entertaining videos.

I have a quick question about this clafoutis recipe. Can the white sugar be substituted with something else that is sweet? Something more natural and less processed. Any ideas? Thanks!

Unknown said...

I made this with some pie cherry's that was all I had on hand, and add some lemon to the batter and it came out amazing! Thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

Would it be ok to leave the prepared clafoutis in the fridge overnight then cook the next day?

Chef John said...

Not sure, but why? This takes like 5 minutes to make!

DnA Studios said...

I've made some version of this probably 50 times, my fav is strawberry and banana,,can you say mmmmmmmmm? I love you Chef John...wait,, did I say that outloud.??

Saad Ghazipura said...

Could I use frozen blueberries? If so any adjustments that I should make?

PJ said...

I think the shape and size of the baking pan makes a big difference. I used a round souffle and ended up with lumpy blueberry soup.

Chef John said...

The size will not cause a "soup" unless you didn't cool it long enough. Obviously changing pan size effects cooling time.

FSB said...

It took 45+ minutes in an 8-inch diameter, 2.5 qt casserole... I shoulda used a 9X13 pan. Still, it's delicious!

Unknown said...

Just made this for the first time and added in goat cheese. Replaced the whole milk with unsweetened almond milk, used frozen blueberries with a little flour to absorb most of the moisture from thawing. Using blender was quick and easy for smoothness.
It came out beautifully and delicious!
I ended up eating it all in a matter of minutes. I couldn't stop. So good and so easy!!!
Thank you for this great recipe.

Gripper99 said...

I don't know how many times I've made this now. It seems whenever I have a dinner party these days I pick up whatever random berries I may find at the grocery and disappear for a few minutes when dinner's almost consumed to whip up the batter and pop this in the oven. Served hot with whipped cream or ice cream this never fails to delight. Cheers! Thank you Chef John.

bhsman said...

Made this last night and it was as simple as you describe to make, though that isn't a complaint. I ended up using raspberries and the entire thing was delicious, though they were a bit tart and made me wish I had used a little more sugar in the batter to compensate.

Thanks for posting the demo!

Unknown said...

Hey Chef John! I just tried this yesterday. I was worried because I never made anything like this before. But I only had a 1/4 cup milk. I also faced the laziness problem and didn't want to go to the store for just milk, so like the daredevil that I am, I decided to replace the other 1 cup milk with heavy cream instead and just for good measure I threw in some strawberries too because, why not? It was so good! I thought I was going to end up with a mess trying to alter a recipe of my first try of making it. I ate near half of it myself! Then I had more this morning for breakfast with a nice vanilla coffee. Yum, sugar! :) Can't wait to try more recipes, and I definitely want to make this again with cherries.

Art Mom said...

I’d meant to post a comment about a year and a half ago after 2 successful clafoutis. 1 of blueberries and lemon rind, and 1 of peaches with cinnamon. Both were divine! They were served atop a bit of creme fraiche made from your recipe on this site. The custard-like cream underneath is almost like creamed banana; in fact, a guest asked if I’d added bananas. I’m not a fan of cooked bananas other than in breads. We loved this! I’m making it in the morning with fresh blueberries. Thank you, Chef John!

Unknown said...

Can you use buttermilk?

Jackie Patti said...

Made this for breakfast today. We used frozen blueberries, but drained them so they juice wouldn't change the composition of the batter. Topped with a big serving of full-fat Fage, which is only slightly tart, more like sour cream than most yogurt. This was utterly yummy, not too sweet, a perfect breakfast - best recipe I've tried off this site so far!