Pear Clafouti

Clafouti is a traditional French dish made by pouring pancake-like batter over fruit - easy to make!
Traditionally, it's made with cherries but pears are in season and beautiful this fall. It's a perfect time to try Ina Garten's recipe for Pear Clafouti.

Every time I type clafouti, I hear Julia Childs saying (in her unmistakable voice) cla-foo-tay'! And I smile! Did you see the movie Julie and Julia? We were in Paris after it came out and saw the movie poster on a circular "billboard" on the street. Of course, I saw the movie - several times! I'm not that crazy about Julia, but I do love Paris!!

So, here is Ina's recipe for Pear Clafouti. Bake it in a quiche pan, if you still have one. Or you can use a pie plate or any round casserole dish. It needs to be eaten warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar and DH would dollop it with whipped cream.

Pear Clafouti
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temp
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs, room temp
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (it IS French!)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 firm, but ripe Bartlett pears, peeled, cored and sliced
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 10x1 1/2-inch round baking dish and sprinkle bottom and sides with 1 tablespoon sugar.

Beat eggs and 1/3 cups sugar in the bowl of electric mixer on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. On low speed, mix in flour, cream, vanilla, lemon zest and salt. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Arrange pear slices in a single layer in the prepared pan. Make them pretty.... pinwheel or spiral.
Pour the batter over the pears and bake until the top is golden brown and custard is firm, 35 to 45 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm!