Yoghourt Apricot Clafoutis

I am not the one to cook fruit into anything. Fruit should be consumed raw and preferably right off the tree or bush or plant. But in this day and age, only few have this luxury. Most of us ‘pick’ their fruit in the grocery store. And when some fruit look so appetizing that you are tempted to buy in bulk. And then you don’t get to eat them in time and before you know it, they are beginning to look a little tired… So, what do you do to save them and save the money you spent on this precious fruit? I decided to try a clafoutis. Although traditionally made with cherries, and milk, I decided to give it a little Bulgarian twist and add yoghourt to the batter, in an effort to add some more tanginess to complement the apricots. As I made the dessert and took it out of the oven, I went to get my camera to take a picture for this blog post, but by the time I got back, it was too late! All my little and big men have smelled the deliciousness and this is what I found.

Here is my quick recipe
You will need:
A Mixer – I love my Kitchen Aid stand mixer! Mostly because I can put things in it and walk away for a minute or two, doing something else, while it is doing its job.
Measuring cups – My favorite are a set of stainless steel cups from 1 cup to 1/2 of teaspoon beautiful set I got at Bed Bath and Beyond.

3 eggs
1 cup plain Bulgarian yoghurt
6 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
vanilla essence (1 teaspoon if liquid or 1 package if powdered)
1 lb apricots
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
2 tablespoons of brown sugar

In the Kitchen Aid mixer, add the egg whites with 1/2 of the cup of brown sugar and the vanilla. Place the mixer first on 2 for a minute and then gradually increase until the egg whites look like snow. Scoop them out in a bowl and set them aside

In the same bowl, no need to rinse, add the egg yolks and the sugar and start the mixer on 2-3. Sift the flour mixed with the baking powder in a bowl and add the mixture gradually to the mixer while the the yolks are being beaten. Add the yoghourt too.

When it looks like everything is well incorporated and the batter thickens, stop the mixer, lift it, so it opens the bowl and mix in the egg white snow with a rubber spatula.

Grease a rectangular ovenproof glass pan with the coconut oil and pour the batter in. Arrange the pitted halved apricots into the batter and cover with the last table spoons of brown sugar.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for about 30 minutes.
To make sure it’s baked well, take a tooth pick and poke the batter. If the tooth pick comes out clean, the clafoutis is ready.

Serve with whipped cream, or in my case just leave the dessert unattended for a few minutes…
Enjoy!

Cooking My Heart Out: On pumpkins, fall, fashion, school and Grandma

It’s Fall, my favorite season! Just look at its brilliance, abundance and color! There is nothing like fall! It’s like the Goldilocks of all seasons.  I love it!

Pumpkins are about as close to the top of my list of favorite things about fall, as a round heavy shapeless and hard to cut vegetable can get. Besides the fact that they are so good for you, they are also a fashion inspiration. I can pretty much find all pumpkin colors in my closet.

But my favorite thing about the pumpkins, is the desert that my grandma used to make for me.

Many years ago, I’d come home from school, and the intoxicating aroma of pumpkin and cinnamon would fill the house. My grandma’s pumpkin rice walnut pudding was my favorite treat in the fall. She made it frequently; mainly to indulge me. And also to make good use of the enormous pumpkins we had in the yard.
Today, when I was freaking out my dogs, chopping pumpkin and making the dessert I grew up with, I wasn’t aware that it was my grandma’s birthday….I always thought her birthday is on Oct 15, until my dad asked me if I made it in her honor. I guess I did…

I posted a photo of my dish with the memory snapshot above on Facebook and several of my friends asked me for the recipe.

So here it goes:

The best pumpkin to eat is either the Green Hubbard (pictured below) or the butternut squash. Both work well. I sometimes even use sweet potatoes. They have pretty much the same consistency.

This slicing job isn’t for everyone. You MUST find either someone qualified who has done this before, or have it sliced at the store… Better yet, just find pre-sliced pumpkin, or just do it with sweet potatoes.

Or if you are like me and think that you absolutely must do it yourself, you may proceed AT YOUR OWN RISK! I do NOT recommend it for several reasons.

1. I have had friends rushed to the emergency room because they almost sliced their fingers off, trying to slice a pumpkin!!!

and

2. The process is extremely noisy and may scare the living daylights out of your pets. As it’s evident in Exhibit A. (“We might be next!)

This is what the Hubbard pumpkin looks like inside. (I like to gather these seeds, dry them on a paper towel and throw them in the garden in spring. And then wait for pumpkins come Halloween time. )

Once you’ve chunked your pumpkin, you can prepare the rest of your ingredients and begin:

Pumpkin/ Rice/ Walnut pudding

My Grandma’s recipe.

WHAT YOU NEED

2lb Green Hubbard Pumpkin ( or butternut squash or sweet potatoes) This is the weight you need after it’s been cut and cleaned. So look for a pumpkin that’s heavier. If you have leftovers, you can make a delicious pumpkin soup.  Recipe for that will follow soon.

1 cup of Arborio rice (the one you buy for risotto, you can also use a japanese rice called Kokuho )

1 tsp of vanila

4 cups of milk

cinnamon

1 cup ground walnuts

5-6 TBS brown sugar

2 TBS butter

HOW IT’S DONE

Once you’ve established who will be cutting the pumpkin and have it chunked, (the flesh of the pumpkin is easy to cut.) you can proceed with slicing the flesh in 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices. They can be in any of shape the bigger chunks came out to be. There is no rule about that.. 

Get your baking dish and put a few pieces of butter at the bottom of it.

With your hand, sprinkle the dry rice to cover the bottom of the dish. Liberally, but not more than a layer of grains

Now arrange a layer of  the pumpkin slices

Sprinkle sugar, cinnamon, ground walnuts

Now again

Rice

Pumpkin

Sugar, cinnamon, ground walnuts

Continue like this until you finish all your ingredients.

You need to top off with sugar cinnamon and walnuts and leave some of these toppings aside..

Take the milk and carefully pour on top of everything, just below the rim of the dish

Sprinkle again with Sugar, walnuts and cinnamon.

Place the baking dish on top of a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil (you want to minimize the damage to your oven. who wants to clean burnt on milk!)

Bake in preheated oven on 350 for 45 min or so… If your oven is temperamental, cover the dish with foil for 30 min at 400, then take the foil off, switch to broil on 450F to brown the top.

I am really bad with measurements. I hardly ever measure anything.. unless I bake a cake or bread. This is a very relaxed recipe. If you like rice, then put some more. I personally prefer more pumpkin.

Bottom line about the rice and the milk is that it’s 1 part rice to 4 parts liquid – this gives the rice a nice plump feel with a little crunch in the center. and it is not too dry.

so if you take 1/2 cup rice, then you need 2 cups milk

if you go for 1 cup rice – 4 cups milk

2 cups rice – 8 cups milk

etc. you get the drift.

Since I wasn’t sure where I was going with the baking, I did it a little differently.

My Impromptu Recipe (Pumpkin Rice Walnut Pudding 2)

Armed with my knife and meat tenderizer, I chopped the  green Hubbard pumpkin in chunks.

Arranged it on a cookie sheet sprinkled with brown sugar and baked it for 30 min.

Meanwhile, I boiled 1 cup rice with 4 cups milk, 3 tbs sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract (but not all the way… i.e. I didn’t let it absorb all the liquid)

Then I put little chunks of a tbs of butter on the bottom of a baking dish

Poured the whole milk-rice mixture in the dish

covered it with the “pumpkin puzzle” (once it was baked it was even easier to slice it in little squares and trapezoids)

Put all the ground walnuts on top, sprinkled with the rest of the brown sugar, added cinnamon, some more milk to fill the dish, and baked it for about 20 min (until the liquid got absorbed and the top was browned)

Now that I’ve done it both ways, I still prefer the original recipe. The one I made today is very good , but I’ve done it the original way, and I will go back to doing it like Grandma. It is a more incorporated taste and I guess I am just partial to the sentimental value of a layered look and taste.

I miss you Grandma. Happy Birthday! You would have been 98 today.