Presented by: Janice Fletcher of Burnaby BC, Canada.

Clafouti is a traditional French dish that can be either savoury or sweet, and can be served at breakfast or brunch, warmed up or cold. This takes less than an hour from beginning to table top.

serves 5

Ingredients

• unsalted butter for the baking dish
• 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for the baking dish
• 1⁄2 cup dried cherries
• 1 large Anjou pear, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cored
• 3⁄4 cup whole milk
• 3⁄4 cup heavy cream
• 2 jumbo eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 10-inch ceramic tart dish or 91⁄2-inch pie plate. Dust with flour and tap out excess; set aside. Put cherries in a medium bowl and cover with boiling water by 1 inch. Let stand until plump, about 10 minutes.

Cut the pear lengthwise into 1⁄8-inch thick slices; fan over bottom of prepared dish. Blend milk, cream, eggs, vanilla, sugar, flour and salt in a blender, or use a hand mixer if you prefer, until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour batter over the pear. Drain the cherries; sprinkle them over the batter. Bake until golden and set, about 25 minutes. Let stand about 15 minutes (it will sink like a cheesecake, so don’t worry) then serve. You can serve this plain, or with a pat of melting butter or even maple syrup. Even better the next day if there’s any left.

Substitutions: Instead of pear and cherries, you could use dried apricots and almond extract instead of vanilla. Dried prunes are nice, so are dried nectarines. Use one fruit instead of two and double up the amount. Instead of 1⁄2 cup use 1 cup.