Sometimes, for various reasons, I really don’t feel like writing, not out of laziness or frustration with what I’m doing, but because of other events which have impacted unexpectedly. This is the case now. I won’t go into details, but it has cast a cloud – more than a cloud, over everything. I hasten to add that I’m fine, family is fine, all is well, but… there’s a cloud.
So maybe a nice recipe would be the thing, maybe something light and frivolous, something with an underlying tang, something to be enjoyed not too seriously but will distract from other things. Let me comb through my recipes…
I’ve found a recipe for pistachio and cherry cake, but that, though delicious wouldn’t be light.
Cherry meringue pie – again delicious, and definitely worth a try some time.
Cherry Bakewell? Oh yes please, bring it on… – for a different reason or occasion.
Clafoutis Limousin? I think maybe this would do –
3/4 pt milk
3 eggs
2 oz plain flour
2 oz sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence or (and!!) 2 tbsp dark rum
1 1/2 oz butter
1 1/2 lbs black sweet cherries, washed but not stoned this is what the recipe says, but I would definitely stone them!!!
icing sugar to dust when baked
- 1. preheat the oven to gas mark 6, 400F, 200C
- 2. stir flour and eggs together in a large bowl . ,ix in milk,, sugar, vanilla essence/rum
- 3. when well mixed, beat with a balloon whisk until the batter is really smooth
- 4. pat cherries dry with kitchen paper and spread evenly in a shallow very well-buttered 2-3 pint dish
- 5. carefully pour the batter over the fruit
- 6. bake in the oven for about half an hour until the top is golden brown and firm to the touch
- 7. dust lightly with icing-sugar and serve while warm
I’m sure a slice of that would get me writing, even if it only lifted my mood a little. Thinking about it, serving with ice-cream, particularly cherry ice-cream, would be even better!
I have no images of cherries so I share an old photo of the beautiful flowering cherry tree outside the school I went to when I was a young thing.
Lois Elsden 
Ah, but clafoutis is SO MUCH nicer if you leave the stones, though!!!
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Less mushy?
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Yes, that’s one reason, but above all it is much more tasty because cherry stones give it a specific taste that is delicious. As the cherry season is short my grandma used to make it in the autumn with small dark red grapes sprinkled with ordinary caster sugar – unforgettable! I had never heard of rum or icing sugar in the recipe, I guess the fruit bought in shops doesn’t compare to the fruit picked from the orchard.
Wishing you a very pleasant August (terribly hot and sticky down here).
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Gosh, I didn’t know that about the cherry stones, something to remember! We had a small cherry tree in our garden when I was growing up, but unfortunately it was attacked by insects one year – and the same happened to our peach tree. It was a “white” peach tree, such delicious fruit, but the insects killed it.
It has been very very warm here too, luckily we are very near the sea (about 400 metres away!!) so although it has been hot , we do have a slight breeze.
I hope you have a lovely August too – a busy month for us as there’s a family wedding next week over near Cambridge, then my daughter’s birthday, plus some other things too. xx
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I really enjoyed your post about clafoutis — the way you described the cherry stones adding a specific taste reminded me of how traditional recipes often rely on that subtle bitterness to balance the sweetness. It’s interesting that your grandmother used grapes in autumn when cherries were out of season; that kind of adaptability is what makes home cooking so special. On a different note, if you ever want to bring your food stories to life visually, you might find Seadanse useful for turning text or images into short video clips, which could be a nice way to share the process with readers who prefer watching over reading. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and I hope the cloud lifts soon.
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Thank you!
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I really enjoyed your post about clafoutis Limousin and the connection between food and memory. The way you describe the cherry stones adding a specific taste reminds me of how traditional recipes often rely on subtle details that modern versions miss. I’ve been exploring ways to preserve family recipes through audio recordings, capturing the stories behind the dishes as well as the instructions. It’s fascinating how a simple dessert can carry so much history. For anyone interested in turning written recipes into spoken narratives, Text to Audio might be a useful tool to bring those stories to life.
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Thanks for your comments, and what an interesting project you’re pursuing! Thanks too for your hint about text to audio – I’m doing something the other way round, speak to text, at present transcribing a dairy I kept on a visit to Tasmania into something legible!! Fascinating too that you’re writing about food and recipes and memories, something I’m very interested in.
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