There are recipes that taste like memories. Plum clafoutis is one of them.
All it takes is the scent of vanilla, orange blossom and fruit baking in the oven to take us back to those summer mornings when picking plums felt like the best game in the world. We would set off without a plan and end up spending half the day outside, sometimes an entire day. Sticky hands, a few plums eaten straight from the tree, and a basket that, mysteriously, filled much more slowly than expected.
It was a simple, authentic ritual, made of unhurried time and little things. Perhaps that is exactly what we find again in clafoutis: a dessert without too many frills, soft and rustic, yet with an elegance all its own. And then there is the colour. Because the table has its own way of dressing, too, and the perfect pairing could only be found in shades of plum.
Sentier Pedule and friulane come in plum, burgundy, mauve and dusty tones. Deep, soft colours, borrowed from the skin of ripe plums, expressing an effortless elegance that feels a little nostalgic and very contemporary.
After all, this is also the beauty of fashion: finding inspiration in the simplest things. A fruit picked by hand, a summer memory, a family recipe.
Plum Clafoutis
For a 23–24 cm baking dish:
500–600 g plums
3½ tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the dish
70 g all-purpose flour
65 g granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
the seeds of 1 vanilla pod
200 ml whole milk
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Generously butter the baking dish and arrange the plums, pitted and cut in half, over the base.
In a bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, salt and vanilla seeds. Slowly add the milk in a thin stream, stirring gently as you do so. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the orange blossom water and finally the melted butter, allowing it to cool slightly first.
Whisk until you have a smooth, even batter. Pour it over the plums and bake for 14 minutes at 200°C. Lower the temperature to 180°C and continue baking for about 30 minutes, until the clafoutis is puffed and lightly caramelised.
Allow to cool, then dust with powdered sugar just before serving.
Clafoutis on the table, friulane on your feet and plum shades all around.
A little seasonal elegance, with an irresistible taste of childhood.
