Wonderful Clafoutis, But So Many Versions

Over at the food portal Serious Eats, Robin Bellinger writes that she took her second stab at making clafoutis, a custardy French dessert that is usually made with cherries. She wasn't sure at first how this version would turn out, but

. . . in the evening my husband pronounced it irresistible. I was truly sold the next day when I had a sliver of clafoutis straight out of the refrigerator; the flavor and texture of the clafoutis were best when it was cold.

She even pitted her own cherries. Impressive. I have a clafoutis recipe, and I'm pretty happy with it. But what I find curious is that no two clafoutis recipes are identical. There seems to be some distinction from one to the next. I noticed that this recipe contains more than a cup of milk, while this recipe calls for exactly 1 cup of milk, and this one contains only 3/4 cup.

One thing that probably trips up amateur cooks who try their hand at clafoutis is the fact that the batter is so runny. I'm willing to bet that many people try to "fix" that runniness, and what results is a custardy texture that is denser than it should be.

Food for Thought

The Hazards of Being a Food Critic: The Albany Times-Union's food writer believes he was beaten by men who were hired by a local restaurant owner who had a score to settle. More details are right here.

Starbucks Coffee . . . and Beer Hall? Apparently so. Restaurant News reports that a Starbucks in metro Seattle is planning to renovate with a "green" design and a menu that will expand to include beer and wine. More details are right here.

No Need to Abandon Fish: Maria Rodale contends that the oil spill in the Gulf need not drive U.S. consumers away from seafood. She notes that trout is a freshwater fish that is "farmed" -- meaning that eating it doesn't raise the same sustainability issues as some other fish. She even has a recipe to share. More details are right here.

Satisfying Our Sweet Tooth: Here's more proof that dessert is still Americans' favorite course. I just noticed that 4 of the 5 "most popular recipes" listed on Delish's home page are desserts. One of them is Sour Cream Ice Cream. That's one of those recipes that you just know is either wonderful or terrible. More details are right here.

Ever Made Breakfast With Marbles?

Okay, so that's a silly question. But so is this question, which was asked by a blogger at Serious Eats.

Caramelized Banana Crisp

Now does that look good or what?

It's courtesy of my fellow food blogger at Spork or Foon. It's accompanied by a hot butter-rum sauce. And here is the recipe for this scrumptious-looking dessert. I will probably give it a try, but I am slightly skeptical about the cooking time -- 40 minutes of baking? These are sliced bananas, not sliced apples.

Hmmm, we'll see how it turns out.

Watermelon Granita

I had one of the most refreshing yet light desserts this weekend. We were staying with friends at their cottage on the Chesapeake Bay, and the dessert was Watermelon Granita. It was a perfect no-fuss summer dessert.

I found this recipe for Watermelon Granita online at the Food Network's site. Three ingredients -- you can't beat that for simplicity. But our friends used a lime instead of the lemon called for in the FN recipe.