Zinfandel Soaked Cherry Clafoutis

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There was Larry, the winning bidder of a Food Lover’s Basket at a recent fundraising event for Project Angel Food.  I was eyeing something a little more WOW, like the beauty basket which included botox services; I was outbid. The experience turned out OK, the basket had a pile of autographed cookbooks, biscotti, and a cooking class for two at Chef’s Inc.  Corner of Veteran and Pico, we drive past on our way to practically everything; 10 years living here, this was our first time inside.

Larry selected a Friday “Date Night in Wine Country” cooking class taught by Chef and cookbook author Diane Brown; he had me at “wine country.” And “date night” helped.

You know, things can go several ways with a group that loves wine and knives. Big WHEW, our fellow classmates were as fun as the cooking, drinking and eating; more posts to come on this.

Chef Diane is known for “seduction cooking;” even her pink chef’s jacket was sassy.  And what’s sexier than dessert first?  She dispatched Larry to egg-cracking for Zinfandel Soaked Cherry Clafoutis [kla-foo-TEE], a flavor-packed, dense baked custard. Very French. Very wine-soaked. Very seductive. Very easy.

Zinfandel Soaked Cherry Clafoutis

by Chef Diane Brown, author of The Seduction Cookbook

• 1 cup dried cherries
• 1 cup Zinfandel
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

CLAFOUTI BATTER

• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup almonds, toasted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Generously butter a shallow 1 1/2 quart glass or ceramic baking dish.  Place cherries and Zinfandel in a sauce pan, bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook until wine is reduced and cherries are plump.  Drain cherries and toss with cornstarch in a medium bowl.  Arrange cherries in the bottom of prepared dish.  Blend flour and almonds in a food processor until nuts are finely chopped.  Whisk together eggs, salt and sugar in a large bowl to blend.  Whisk in flour mixture.  Add milk, butter, lemon peel, and vanilla and almond extracts; whisk until smooth.  Pour over cherries.  Bake clafoutis until set in center and golden on top, about 55 minutes.  Cool slightly, sprinkle powdered sugar over and serve warm.  Serves 8.

Tagged as: cherry, clafoutis, custard, dessert, easy, egg, french, recipe, soaked, sweet, wine, zinfandel