Recipe Reimagining – Pineapple Clafoutis

I have a pineapple sitting on my counter.  Languishing.  Probably wondering if it’ll just get tossed into the compost pile without a second thought.

It’s not that I don’t like pineapple.  I do.  Quite a bit.

But there’s that frustratingly sneaky sugar thing that I can’t have.

I was thinking though, on the coattails of my apple clafoutis, that perhaps I could make a pineapple clafoutis.  A pineapple clafoutis with half the almond milk subbed out for coconut milk.

Maybe I went too far.  Perhaps the coconut milk would be too much.

Maybe not.

So, I ponder.  Below is the recipe I’m thinking of heavily revising (nicked from the cached version of this page).  Creating some combination of it and my apple clafoutis.  Since the recipe is so simple (well, the apple one was), perhaps I’ll try it this week.  I’ll be sure to report back (with more alacrity than recently!) with my (hopefully tasty) results.  (additionally, here’s a bit of a write up from that same place above, nicked from the cache (as the site’s a pay/registration site)).  It looks a bit rough with my notes, but hopefully this’ll be a work in progress.
1/2 large pineapple (14 to 16 oz., peeled)
4 Tbs. unsalted butter (I seem to be tolerating butter all right these days, so I’ll probably use it)
1/4 cup light brown sugar (eliminate this)
3 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar (eliminate this, maybe add a very little bit of molasses)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (use the rice flour sub from the apple recipe)
2/3 cup heavy or whipping cream (sub with coconut milk)
Seeds from 1/2 split vanilla bean (or 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract)
1 Tbs. rum

Heat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch cake pan or pie pan. (a deep cast iron pan would work great for this, I think, but I don’t have one.  It’ll either be the brownie pan again, or my springform pan)

Cut the half pineapple lengthwise into four wedges. Cut the core from each wedge, cut each wedge lengthwise again to make wedges about 1 inch wide, and then cut each of these crosswise into 1/2-inch slices.

Put the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat (ideally large enough to hold the pineapple in one layer). When it sizzles, add the pineapple. Give the pan a shake and then let the pineapple release its juices without stirring. Let the liquid bubble and evaporate, giving the pineapple only the occasional shake and stir. When most of the liquid has evaporated (after about 5 min.), add the brown sugar and stir again. Let the sugar bubble for about 30 seconds and then remove the pan from the heat. With a slotted spoon, transfer the pineapple to the prepared cake pan; reserve the juices in the pan.
Brown sugar adds a mellow sweetness to the pineapple, giving the clafoutis a complex blend of flavors.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and granulated sugar until lightly frothy and the sugar is dissolved. Sprinkle or sift in the flour and whisk until smooth. Add the cream, vanilla, and rum; whisk again. Finally, add the juices from the pineapple and give the mixture one last stir.  A whisk works best to gently blend the floour and eggs.

Pour the batter over the pineapple. Bake until the clafoutis is evenly puffed and golden and a skewer comes out clean, about 50 min. Serve warm.
photo: Martha Holmberg
From Fine Cooking 37, pp. 52
February 1, 2000

Recipe – Apple Clafoutis

I subscribe to the Living Without recipe newsletter and it graces my inbox with an assortment of recipes, some of which I can’t even look at, some I can adapt to my nefarious uses, some that are just brilliant.

The most recent sending falls somewhere between the last two.

Apple Clafoutis.

I’d never even heard of it.  I guessed it was French.  Seems it comes from the Limoges region of France and is traditionally made with cherries.  It’s kind of like the lovechild of a Dutch pancake and a quiche.  Someone else described it as a fruity Yorkshire pudding.

As I read through the ingredients, I began to get excited.  Apples, natch.  We’d just bought a 40 lb box of Pink Lady apples from my veg co-op, mostly for juicing for the husband, but apples are one of the safer fruits for me, so it was a win all around.  It had only one half cup of sugar, which I felt quite confident I could omit with no ill effect (for the recipe.  If I didn’t omit it, I’d certainly have an ill effect…).  I even had all the required ingredients.  So, Sunday, I set to makin’ me a dessert.

It didn’t disappoint.

Sugar-free Apple Clafoutis (adapted from the Living Without recipe)

• 3 cups sliced apples (the original recipe called for tossing with 2 tablespoons sugar, but sugar ain’t my friend.  Additionally, I seem to think 3 cups ended up being 3-ish medium sized apples, cored, but unpeeled.)
• 3 eggs
• 1½ cups almond milk (use whatever milk you happen to like or tolerate.  I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk, which worked quite well)
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¾ cup rice flour
• ¼ cup sweet rice flour (I thought I’d had some in my pantry, but I was out.  I substituted tapioca starch, which seemed to work just fine)
• ½ teaspoon baking powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients sans the apples and blitz until smooth.  Grease the pan of your choice (the original called for a 9-inch pie pan.  I used a 9×9 square baking dish (my brownie pan!).  You could easily use some sort of corning ware dish.  I bet this would be fantastic in a deep cast iron pan, too, kind of a la pineapple upside down cake, or the Dutch pancake I alluded to earlier) and line it with the apple slices.  I kept my slices regular, between 1/4 – 1/8 inch, and layered them prettily (kind of like those apple tart things you see with the circular apples slices).  Give your wet mixture a good mix, then pour one-third of the batter over the apples.  Bake this for 15 minutes, until the fruit sets.  Remove from oven and pour over the remaining batter.  Place back in oven for another 45 minutes.  The top will be a light golden brown when done.  Let cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes.  Then dig in!

* The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of sugar as well.  I omitted this one, too.  For me, the fruit provides enough sweetness.  Because of this, I can have a normal-sized piece of the stuff for dessert (or breakfast!) and not have to worry about the sugar content.  I’m up to tolerating 2-3 pieces of fruit a day (though not all together), so I felt this dessert to be well within my tolerances.

Recipes – Wheat-free Passover

I want to tell you about the glorious, tasty, safe and non-pain-inducing food I made for Passover.

Really, I do.

However, I know (some of) my limitations.  If I plotz over documenting all the recipes right here, right now, I’ll never get past it.  And there is this devastatingly delicious dessert that I MUST tell you about…

So, in the interest of brevity and updatingness, I’m going to simply list off the wonderful things I made, as preparation for the eventual documentation and linkage.

Never fear (well, at least, not often anyway), I will provide recipes for these tasty items.  I need to, as I promised my cousin I’d send her a recipe for the kugelettes.

• Brisket
• Potato kugelettes
• Chocolate flourless cake
• Wheat-free matzo
• Wheat-free matzo ball soup

Recipe – Millet Flatbread

Recently, the Ginger Lemon Girl featured a millet flatbread recipe on her site.  As I’d recently bought some millet flour (got to love the Indian section of my favorite Asian grocery store… a two-pound bag for less than two bucks), it seemed intriguing. With some revision for what’s in my kitchen, and my tastes, I’d say it turned out pretty well.

I have thus far used it for the base a of pizza and a sandwichy thing (pretty much same ingredients, too… though the “pizza” featured Italian sausage and a smattering of sheep’s milk feta).

It provides a slightly more delicate “bread” than my go-to bread stuff.  Though admittedly, I haven’t tried my bread in a flat venue.  I probably should.

Here’s my revised version of Ginger Lemon Girl‘s Millet Flatbread (mostly lifted straight from her site, until my body and brain cooperate with me to write up my own version… body is rebelling against me today).

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups millet flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp almond meal
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup warm water (start with 1/2 cup.  I ended up needing about a cup of water, which was a smidge too much.  I suspect it has something to do with the kind of millet flour I have)

For yeast proofing:

• 2 tsp yeast (one packet)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/4 cup warm water

In a small bowl mix yeast, honey, and 1/4 cup warm water together. Set aside. Mixture should become bubbly and creamy in appearance. In your bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. In a medium sized bowl mix together all wet ingredients. Add proofed yeast to wet ingredients. With a whisk and a strong arm, slowly pour in wet ingredients. Beat for 3-5 minutes until mixture is fully incorporated. Batter will be rather thin and pour-able, like thick pancake batter.  If it’s not, add more water very slowly, until you get the right consistency. Heat oven to 200 degrees and cut off immediately. Grease the bottom of a jelly roll pan, or use parchment paper (or silpat?) or whatever takes your fancy.  Pour batter into pan and evenly spread over whole pan. Let rise in warmed oven for 40-50 minutes until bread is puffed up and risen. Remove from oven.  Heat oven to 425 degrees. Once oven is preheated, place pan of risen batter back into oven. Bake 11-15 minutes until bread is crispy and lightly browned on top — see top picture! Let bread cool for 15-30 minutes before using for sandwiches or pizza (if making pizza, consider toasting the bread just a bit (perhaps brushed w/ olive oil?).

Behind the curve…

I have been sadly remiss in my updating duties here.  So much glorious (and not so glorious) food have I made, and I haven’t told the world a thing.

Hopefully within the next few weeks, I’ll put in some time here, updating with recipes, food experiments, reports of dining out,  and new product reviews.

Until then, my faithful…