Clafouti with Lakemont Grapes and Quark

Clafouti is a simple French baked custard that usually is made with cherries.   The other day I was at my favorite cheese shop talking to my favorite cheese monger, Anne Saxelby, asking her what the Cheese of the Day was so I could get 40% off with my American Cheese Month Passport.

Anne said that the cheese of the day was Quark, which got us into a conversation about what does one actually do with Quark?  Anne said that the chef at Blue Hill was making it into beignets, which sounded yummy, but anything deep fried always sounds yummy to me.  So I bought some Quark having no idea what I was going to do with it and brought it home to ponder.

In the fridge I had some Lakemont grapes that I'd gotten from Buzzard Crest Vineyards Farms who, for only a few weeks a year, sells amazing, local, organic grapes. The Lakemont is a seedless, green grape that, in my opinion, is the best eating grape in the Northeast. (Marquis is a close second.)  Anyway I got this crazy idea that I would make clafouti replacing the cherries with Lakemont grapes.  Here's what I came up with:

Clafouti with Lakemont Grapes and Quark

Generously butter a 9" pie plate.

Preheat the oven to 350 F

In the bowl of a standing mixer add 2/3 cup organic cane sugar, 3 large organic eggs (local ones are best) and 1 large egg yolk,  beat until the whisk leaves a trail and the mixture has increased considerably in volume about 4-6 minutes.  Stir in 2 Tablespoons of Sauternes or Ice Wine (or a fruity white wine will do in a pinch) and 2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract.

To the egg mixture add 3/4 cups Quark and 3/4 cups whole milk.  Whip until incorporated.

In a small bowl add 1/2 cup of flour and a pinch of salt.  Add all at once to the egg mixture and beat until the mixture is smooth, scrapping down the sides with a spatula if  need be.

Pour a third of the egg mixture into the prepared pie dish over which add 2 Cups (picked over and rinsed) Lakemont Grapes sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons of cane sugar, cover with the rest of the egg mixture.

Sprinkle the top of the clafouti with 1 Tablespoon of cane sugar and place in the middle of the preheated oven.

Cook for 30-35 minutes or until nicely browned and a tester comes out clean.

Just out of the oven the clafouti will be puffy...

But as it settles it deflates.

Lightly sprinkle with some organic icing sugar. (Note on icing sugar: this is finely ground sugar with corn starch added to prevent caking. Corn starch if it is not organic is a GMO food and you don't want to be putting it in your mouth! Whole foods sells a reasonably priced organic icing sugar.)

To serve toss in a few fresh grapes and if you really want to make it a fancy ass dessert add a dollop of some freshly whipped, slightly sweetened cream (you could add a splash of Sauternes into it as well if you fancy a little booziness).

 My guest had a small portion, then she left and I managed to finish off half of it before bed!

The great thing about clafouti is that it is easy to make and you can make it with fruit or just keep it plain and use it as a base for stewed dry fruits, fruit compotes, fresh seasonal fruit or even maple syrup and toasted pecans!

Oh, and there are lots of recipes out there that don't call for quark, but using it allowed me to use less flour then is often called for and I thought the quark added a nice, tangy depth of flavor you don't usually get.

No Goat Left Behind

So I'm going to Fire Island from the 9th to the 16th (or there abouts) and I am so excited about all the things I am going to be able to cook that I am not able to cook at home (because of the kosher kitchen).

One of the things I was wanting to cook was a very fresh Goat Curry with lots of green hot peppers and Indian Spices, slow cooked and served with buttery new potatoes.   In looking for Goat meat I knew I would have to be resourceful, which didn't stop me from asking at every butcher shop I saw:  Do you have Goat meat?

The response is always one of perplexed annoyance:  Goat's meat?  What kind of weirdo eats goats meat?  We sell beef and pork and chicken!

So one thing lead to another and I ended up on the Heritage Foods USA's website and low and behold the first thing I see is a heading that reads: No Goat Left Behind.

What I most love about this video other than it's filled with great information is that much to my surprise my friend Anne Saxelby is at the heart of this video.  Having spent years with cheesemakers she realized that girl goats get kept for their milk and boys goats are well, kind of a problem.  So it is a cheese monger who is behind this drive to get consumers to eat Goat Meat, something traditionally Americans don't eat even though it is eaten in other countries the world over.  The Cheese Meat connection is key here, Anne explains it much better then I ever could, listen up:

Saxelby Cheese

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

As anyone who reads this blog with any regularity will know I have been a big fan and good customer of Saxelby Cheese almost since they opened and talk about them here when ever I mention cheese!

The picture of Anne peering out from the mountain of cheese above is from the New York Times who did a wonderful article on her, Saxelby Cheese and on the winning of the Neighborhood Achievement Award as Manhattan's Small Business of the year!

You gotta read it.  I am so proud of Anne and Benoit (her business partner).  In five years they have changed the way people think about local cheese, and introduced so many of us to small unique farmstead cheese makers who without Saxelby Cheese we would never have had exposure to.

I am just a little worried that now I'll have to wait in a longer line to get my Cheese Fix! 
Something tells me her and Benoit might have to expand.

Cutting the Curd

Anne Saxelby is a friend of mine who also happens to be the proprietor of my favorite cheese shop in NYC: Saxelby Cheese.  As luck would have it her shop is located a few blocks away from my home in the Essex Street market, regular readers here know I speak of Saxelby's often. 

Anyway in addition to selling local farmstead cheeses Anne also has a radio show on Heritage Radio (which is part of Roberta's out in Bushwick) called Cutting the Curd.  Being the technology troglodyte that I am I have yet to be able to figure out how to get pod casts to work on this here blog thingy, so I was very excited today to discover that there is a video of Anne and thought you'd like to see this person I have spoken so much about.  I'm sure after watching this you will want to find your way down to Essex street market to meet her in the flesh and buy some delicious local cheese


Cutting the Curd from Heritage Radio Network on Vimeo.