Clafouti avec des Prunes

Clafouti avec des Prunes. Translation: Clafouti with plums. Clafouti is a traditional French dessert consisting of a layer of fruit topped with batter and baked. Cherries are the customary fruit of choice, but any other may be used. In this case I have used diced plums. I usually do not do anything very exciting with plums. In fact, I like to just eat them as they are; and this is exactly what I intended to do when I purchased them a few days ago at the grocery store. However, plans change and I was in the mood to experiment. Without any milk in the refrigerator, my options for baked goods was limited. (Yes I know it sounds strange but we rarely keep milk in the house--we just do not drink it.) Clafouti almost always calls for milk, cream or even sweetened condensed milk. Was my quest for a quick and easy plum dessert doomed? Of course not...I told you earlier...I was in the mood to experiment. While I do not have milk, I do have a lot of cream cheese on hand. Essentially they both come from a cow right? Luckily the clafouti was a success. Read on to find out how cream cheese went from experimental ingredient to secret ingredient!

SERVES 2

Ingredients:

• 2 cups plums, diced
• 2 medium eggs
• .33 cup sugar
• 3 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• .33 c flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• .24 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• non-stick cooking spray or butter (used to grease pie pan)

Cookware/Utensils:

• small bowl
• medium bowl
• large spoon
• measuring cups
• cutting board
• santoku or chef's knife
• electric mixer
• glass pie pan
  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease the pie pan with non-stick cooking spray or butter. (I prefer butter). Dice plums and place them in a small bowl; set aside. Add eggs and sugar to medium bowl and mix on low for about one minute. Add the cream cheese and mix again until smooth. Finally, add the flour, vanilla and salt to the bowl and mix again until lumps are no longer visible. Place fruit in pie pan. Slowly pour the batter over the plums. Be sure to evenly spread mixture in the prepared pie pan. Drizzle with the butter. Place in the oven =for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.

Serve clafouti warm or room temperature. It is pictured below with vanilla bean ice cream. I have to confess...this was so yummy that I had two pieces!

***While I have referred to this as a dessert it also makes a great breakfast. This will serve breakfast or brunch for 2 people, twice. For this reason I like to call it a weekender. A weekender is a breakfast or brunch item that can be eaten on Saturday and Sunday morning.

White Wine Chicken Salad

We purchased a rotisserie chicken for dinner one Friday night and ended up not eating as much of it as we expected. Come lunch time Saturday it was not something that we wanted to re-heat (I'm not a fan of leftovers at all) but we also did not want to waste it. My idea was to make chicken salad. While I have made my fair share of tuna salad, I had never at this time attempted chicken salad. So, I used some staples common in a good tuna salad recipe like mayonnaise and hard boiled eggs. Then I looked at what was in our refrigerator and found a bell pepper and an onion and I decided to create a chicken salad recipe of my own. My all-time favorite chicken salad is from a locally owned restaurant called Norma's. She makes a uniquely delicious champagne chicken salad. Inspired by this incredible dish I decided to add a little Riesling to my recipe. Voila, chicken salad!

SERVES 2-4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chicken, shredded
• .5 cup sour cream
• 3 eggs, boiled and diced
• .25 red bell pepper, chopped
• .25 cup onion, chopped
• handful dried cranberries
• .5 cup mayonnaise or miracle whip
• .25 cup white wine (a sweet Riesling is preferred)
• .25 teaspoon salt
• .25 teaspoon black pepper
• .25 teaspoon garlic powder
• .25 teaspoon dill
• .5 teaspoon brown sugar
• .25 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cookware/Utensils:

• small glass bowl
• medium glass bowl
• large spoon
• measuring cups
• cutting board
• santoku or chef's knife

Place salt, pepper, garlic powder, dill, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside. In large bowl add chicken, sour cream, eggs, bell pepper, onion and cranberries. Stir until mixed. Add mayonnaise and stir again until all ingredients are mixed together. Pour wine over the mixture. Add all dry ingredients from the small bowl. Stir thoroughly. Place in the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving.

***Remove from refrigerator and serve in a pita, on your favorite bread as a sandwich or place on a bed of spinach as seen above.