Plum Clafoutis

The traditional French dessert "Clafoutis" is, I find,  a bit bland, after all,  it's just a flan made with eggs, vanilla, milk and a little flour with some fruit thrown in, traditionally cherries. My version is still simple but making your plum compote in advance and letting the flavors intensify over a few days renders this clafoutis much more flavorful . Now that  fall is upon us, this dessert served warm fits the bill on a cool autumn night. Try and make this in two steps: compote first and a few days later the batter  but it is not essential. 

Ingredients:

700 grams of red plums, pitted and cut in quarters
60 grams of sugar for compote plus 50 grams of sugar for batter
1 vanilla pod 
Icing sugar for dusting
1 cinnamon stick
15 grams of butter
125 grams of flour
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
300 ml of milk

Step 1:

Make compote

Preheat oven to 170°/ Gas mark 3.

 Put plums in shallow baking dish, add 60g of sugar and cinnamon stick. Split vanilla pod down the middle and empty seeds onto the plums and throw in whole pod,  mix together. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes depending on the ripeness of your plums. They should be soft with skin beginning to separate. Take out of oven and let cool. Cover and store in the refrigerator up to 5 days

Step 2:

Heat oven to 180°/Gas mark 4. If you've just made the compote, make sure that it is cool before you proceed. Start with a new baking dish and butter it thoroughly. Remove vanilla pod and cinnamon stick from compote and pour plums into dish, distribute evenly.

Put the flour and 50g of sugar into a bowl, mix and create a well in the center. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs; add the vanilla extract and milk to the eggs and whisk. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the flour beating constantly until you have a smooth batter. Pour over plum compote.

Bake for 40 minutes until batter is firm to touch and golden on top. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve just warm.