Neighbors

Remember the neighbor who got a kick out of my strawberry-rhubarb pie? His wife is a good baker, too, and she reciprocated last evening with these, blueberry popovers.

Coming to the door just as we finished dinner, very timely because we were wishing we had something interesting for dessert, she brought us these lovely popovers to say thanks for the pie, which was really a thanks for cookies that her husband had brought over a few weeks before. This back-and-forth has been going on for years now. I hope it never ends.

She was concerned that adding blueberries to the popovers had weighted them down and caused less of a pop. We reassured her on that score - these were light as a song while still offering little jammy pockets of berry treasure. We have missed National Blueberry Popover Day - that was back in March - but you can find three recipes for them on this website. When you make a nice, big batch, enjoy them - but then take some over to surprise your neighbors.

Buckle? Chuckle

I like to read the Wednesday Chef blog - I like the way Luisa writes. She's funny and witty, and you can almost hear her talking. And, every now and then, she posts a recipe that transports me to heaven - what's not to like about that?

And so it is with Luisa's post about Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson's Lemon Blueberry Buckle. I made only a very few changes to Luisa's recipe, subbing in some kefir that I had in the fridge for the buttermilk that I didn't have, and it was truly, truly killer.

Luisa advocated letting it get cold after baking and I'm an obedient student, so I did. The crumb is as light as air and perfumed with lemon throughout. The berries made dark little hollows of sweet-tart flavor. But, I forgot to tell that to My Beloved, so the next morning he gently heated it for our breakfast and, Big Wow!, it was great that way, too!

I carved up the remainder to offer to my neighbors as a peacemaking gesture for their forbearance with all the nail pounding and drilling they are enduring as we add a small deck onto the house. I doubt if they even noticed the noise while they were transported on a cloud of Lemon Blueberry Buckle.

Wretched Excess

Whenever I see a stretch limousine lumbering along with its televisions, bars and cushy seats, I think "wretched excess" and yet clafouti (or clafoutis), which also originated in the Limousin region of France, is the polar opposite of excess, a dessert designed to make the simple and delicious most out of fruit that is perhaps a little past its prime.

This week, I had a few cherries that were going wrinkly and some blueberries that had shrunk slightly - combined, I had just enough fruit for a clafouti to say thank you to My Beloved's daughter, Katie, who had volunteered to come and upgrade my computer.

If you aren't familiar with clafouti, it's similar to a slightly sweetened popover or pancake batter poured over fresh fruit and baked until it puffs. Eggy, but not custardy, if you get my drift. You can use just about any kind of fruit but the most commonly included are stone fruits such as cherries, peaches, apricots and nectarines.

A quick Google for "clafouti" will get you more recipes than you can handle but I still like the basic one Mrs. Child recorded in her classic, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." It is simplicity itself to make using only a blender, a couple of measuring cups and a pie plate, and it is a lovely early-summer dessert when the fruit is so ripe and perfect that you don't need to fancy it up. My Beloved and I like it a la mode but it's great all by itself and I can even recommend it for breakfast, although that really is wretched excess!