22 August 2019

Clafoutis aux courgettes et au fromage de chèvre



I've made and posted about the French cream pie called un clafoutis many times. Usually they are for dessert, but you can also make what you might call a savory clafoutis — savory in French would be salé because the clafoutis mixture is salted, not sweetened. I've made savory clafoutis before, with cauliflower. Another name for this kind of pie is "crustless quiche" ( une quiche sans pâte).



A quiche normally has a crust made with flour and butter. A clafoutis doesn't have a crust that you have to make (or buy) separately — it makes its own crust, in a way. The clafoutis batter contains a small amount of flour, whereas the quiche batter is just eggs and cream (or milk), with cheese, ham, and/or vegetables for flavor. For this crustless quiche, the first step is to sauté a zucchini that has been cut into chunks the about size of cherries. (Cherries are the classic and original clafoutis ingredient.)



After the zucchini cubes are slightly cooked and slightly browned, put them in the pan you are going to bake the clafoutis in. For this pie, I decided to add some meat too — it's diced turkey breast that I sauteed in the same pan I cooked the zucchini in. Into the pie plate it went. The idea is to put the flavor ingredients in the pan and then pour the creamy egg custard over them.


The other flavor ingredient in this savory clafoutis is cheese — goat cheese, called fromage de chèvre in French. As I wrote about yesterday, here in the Loire Valley we can buy locally made goat cheeses that are either chèvre frais (not ripened), chèvre demi-sec (medium ripe), or chèvre sec (ripened until dry and hard, sort of like Parmesan cheese). For this pie, I decided to use fromage frais de chèvre, which has the consistency of cream cheese or cottage cheese — both of which would be a good substitute for fresh goat cheese.



I mashed the fresh goat cheese with a fork, added some flour, and then added milk and eggs to make a custard with a smooth, liquid consistency. For a clafoutis like this in a 10-inch pan, I used 200 grams of cheese, 60 grams of flour, 200 milliliters of milk, and three whole eggs. Carefully pour the liquid over the pre-cooked zucchini and turkey cubes. Oh, and add some fresh herbs to the custard — I had fresh basil and fresh thyme. Don't forget the salt and pepper.



Here's the result pictured as a slice ready to be served. You can see some zucchini and turkey cubes embedded in the cooked custard.

Okay, you could make this same crustless quiche using grated cow's milk cheese (cheddar or swiss), or with cream cheese or cottage cheese. And next time I make one, I want to use a ripened goat cheese cut into chunks along with the zucchini and turkey chunks. Cubes of ham or pieces of smoked bacon (lardons) instead of poultry would also be good. There are so many possibilities.

16 comments:

  1. Here are U.S. equivalents for the metric measures I give in the post for the clafoutis batter:

    200 ml milk (a generous ¾ cup)
    55 g flour (a scant half cup)
    3 large eggs
    200 g fresh, soft cheese (7 oz. by weight)

    Use enough pre-cooked zucchini and turkey (chicken, ham...) cubes to just cover the bottom of the pie plate.

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  2. I have a wonderful local goat cheese with garlic and herbs. I may try this!

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    1. Now you've got me thinking about Boursin ail et fines herbes. That's not goat cheese, but could be good in this kind of clafoutis (or quiche).

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  3. In the past, when I had an oven, I made that quiche sans pâte or cauliflower clafoutis a number of times. Now, that I do not have an oven, I'm wondering if I could make it in a bain-marie? If so, how long do you think it will take to to be cooked?

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    1. I think that would be worth trying. As for timing, I have no idea. The only ingredient that really needs (if it does) to be cooked is the egg. And the meat is cooked ahead of time. To just it it's done, the only thing to do is poke it with the point of a knife or skewer to see it comes out clean. That will mean that the egg is set. But if you cover the clafoutis, you might have too much water dripping off the lid onto the custard. Maybe partially covered would be best. Can you get chèvre frais there?

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    2. To be honnest, I never looked for chèvre frais, just Selles-sur-Cher. Next time I go to Monoprix, I'll look for it, that is if I can remember! I'll probably try this with Comté and cauliflower or brocolis. If it works, it will be a good addition to the number of dishes I can prepare myself as well as some variety. I'll keep you posted.

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    3. You could probably find a faisselle de chèvre if you wanted to make the clafoutis with goat cheese. I looked to see if it's possible to buy a Selles-sur-Cher goat cheese at the chèvre frais stage. No, because the S-sur-C must be affiné for 10 days.

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  4. This looks delicious. I shall try it very soon.

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    1. I think I overcooked the courgette before I put it in the dish with the cream and eggs. Next time I would cook it a little less, because it is going to cook in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes.

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  5. I'm going to try it with cauliflower.

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    1. I remember that we liked the cauliflower clafoutis.

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  6. You could try sharp cheddar ;-). The clafoutis looks great. I believe this is what they call a tortilla in Spain, which is nothing like a tortilla you would get in the US. Maybe some type of hot sauce would be good with it!

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    1. The savory clafoutis is good with hot sauce (Louisiana Crystal sauce, Texas Pete, Tabasco). The Spanish tortilla is similar but is made with just potatoes, eggs, and olive oil — no cream or milk or flour.

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