Autumn Abundance

Pears were abundant at the last farmers market of the season, so I stocked up.  This fruit tastes like Autumn to me, and I'm soaking up the cooler weather and the changing of the seasons.  In my rows of cookbooks, I couldn't find a lot of recipes using pears, but I did find this simple dessert that we enjoyed over the weekend.

Pear Clafoutis

6-8 Servings

from "Sacred Feasts from a Monastery Kitchen"

4 pears

1 cup milk

3 eggs

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cognac or vanilla

Confectioners' (powdered) sugar

1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2)  Peel and slice pears.

3)  Prepare batter:  place milk, eggs, white granulated sugar, and cognac/vanilla in blender and whirl thoroughly at high speed for 1 or 2 minutes.

4)  Generously butter a square baking dish about 1 to 2 inches deep . Pour about 1/4 of the batter into the baking dish and place in oven for about 2 minutes or until batter has set.  Remove from oven and arrange sliced pears evenly on top.  Sprinkle a bit of confectioners' (powdered) sugar over the fruit.  Pour remaining batter over fruit, smoothing evenly.  Place in center of oven and bake for about 40 minutes.  Clafoutis is done when the top puffs and turns brown, though still remaining custardlike.  Remove from oven, sprinkle confectioners' (powdered) sugar on top, and serve while clafoutis is still warm.

Choate notes:  My clafoutis took longer than two minutes (more like six minutes) to initially set and longer than forty minutes (closer to fifty minutes) to finish cooking.  I omitted the powdered sugar, and the family said it was still plenty sweet.  As the four of us devoured the entire pan of comfort food, the serving size of 6-8 people seems a little skimpy to me.