strawberry clafoutis

In search for a quick, easy and portable dessert to take to our friends' house for dinner, I hopped online to a Japanese recipe site (that has fairly recently launched an English version!) for inspiration.

I wanted to make something fruity, so when I found an incredibly simple sounding recipe for Strawberry Clafouti, it was pretty much perfect.

In case you don't know what a clafoutis is, it's basically a kind of cake/flan/baked custard hybrid. It uses very little flour, but just enough so that it isn't like a full on flan/crème brûlée type of consistency.

I made a little more batter than the original recipe calls for (mainly to fill up the pan I was using, but it worked out perfectly for 2 girls and 2 hungry boys), so here's how it was done:

Ingredients
1 pack strawberries
5 large eggs
300ml whipping cream
150g sugar
65g whole milk
45g flour

To make:
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.
2. Chop off the green bits of the strawberries, slice them in half.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, pour into a pan (any shape, mine was a 8 x 11 one), place the strawberries on top (I tried to do this in an orderly and pretty way, but the batter is very liquid-y so don't bother!).
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

That's it!

The most traditional version is made with cherries - which E is begging me to make next time - but I think any fruit, especially berries, works great with the recipe. It's the easiest thing to whip up for upcoming summer barbecues, so really, you have no excuse.

What's the easiest recipe you have in your arsenal that never fails you? This has definitely become one of mine.