By Sidonie Maroon, The Food Co-op Culinary Educator, abluedotkitchen.com

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On my morning walks, I wander past hedges of ripening blackberries and make a mental note to bring a bowl next time. In the evenings, as I water the garden, I pluck a handful of blueberries from my six young bushes. We are in full fruit time. An Italian plum tree near me, with branches overhanging the street, will have ripe fruit soon. I wish I had room for an Italian plum. I would dry them, stew and eat them fresh.

I had some unripe nectarines and made a clafoutis. Clafoutis, pronounced kluh-foo-tee, is a French speciality from the Limousin region of central France. It’s traditionally made with embedded cherries, but it makes an excellent dish with summer fruits like plums, berries, nectarines, apricots or peaches. Made by covering cut up fruit, in an earthenware dish, with a pancake like batter it bakes at 350F for 45 minutes to a golden brown with bubbling fruit peeking through. Impressive, delicious and easy. Its texture leans towards a bread pudding, an enforced custard, and reminds me of a Dutch Baby.

I adapted the clafoutis to my Nouveau Baking technique, where I grind baking flours on demand in my Vitamix. I thought mild buckwheat groats would taste wonderful with cinnamon, vanilla and fruit. Ground chickpeas, I’ve found, make an ultra fluffy flour similar to cake flour. Flaxseeds have binding power and 100% monk fruit powder is a low glycemic sugar substitute. It gives me satisfaction to make sweet enticing desserts that are wholesome but taste of guilty pleasures.

The clafoutis filled the kitchen with smells of roasting fruit and vanilla. It came out of the oven, with a handsome crackled top with nectarine chunks peeping through. My flour mix made twice the amount I needed, but this wasn’t bad because now I have enough to make another.

A Lexicon of Baked Fruit Dishes

Cobbler

Is a deep dish pie of cooked fruit, often apple or peach with a thick crust on top. This usage dates from the 1850s. Using a scone dough instead of a biscuit will give you excellent results.

Pandowdy

An old-fashioned deep dish fruit dessert related to the cobbler, grunt and slump. Sliced or cut fruits are tossed with spices, butter, and sweetened with molasses, maple syrup or brown sugar. It’s topped with a biscuit-like dough, and part way through baking the crust is broken up and pressed slightly down into the fruit so it can absorb the juices. They call this technique dowdying.

Slump

Immortalized by Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women. She named her house Apple Slump and recorded a recipe for it. It’s a dish of cooked fruit with pieces of yeast dough dropped on the top and then baked.

Grunt

Similar to a cobbler except steamed instead of baked.

Crumble

Deep dish fruit topped with a streusel made of butter, flour, oats and sometimes nuts. It’s my opinion that for both crumbles and crisps, some of the streusel should be nudged down into the fruit before baking. This way, the buttery crumble and juicy fruit is in every bite.

Crisp

A crumble without the oats. I sometimes make crisps and crumbles without flour and rely on nuts, seeds, dates and coconut.

Nouveau Baking Nectarine Clafoutis

Makes a 9-inch round clafoutis

EASY

A beautiful classic dessert using fresh in season fruit. Gluten-free, sugar free and 100% wholesome delicious.

Ingredients

Flour

½ cup raw buckwheat groats

¼ cup dry chickpeas

2 tablespoons golden flaxseed

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon 100% monk fruit powder

Wet

3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

¾ cup whole milk

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

Additions

3 cups chopped nectarines or a mixture of peaches, plums and berries

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper. I used a spring form with a cookie sheet under it. The batter leaked slightly, but I could unmold it easily.

2. Using a high-powered mixer (Vitamix), grind the flour ingredients together at high speed for 1 minute. Sift into a large mixing bowl and compost the fines. This will make enough flour for two batches. Measure out ¾ of a cup to use in this recipe, label and save the other half for next time.

3. Blend the wet ingredients together until smooth. Lay the fruit in the pan's bottom and pour the batter over it. With a fork, poke the batter around so that the fruit is encased, but peeking through.

4. Bake on a middle rack at 350 F for 45 minutes or until golden.

5. Serve warm or cold. Pour cream over individual servings for a luxe touch.

Alternative Recipe: If you aren’t able to make your own flour, then substitute ¾ of a cup all purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon for the buckwheat groats, chickpeas, and flax meal. Add ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg and ¼ teaspoon sea salt to the all purpose flour. You can add ½ teaspoon 100% monk fruit powder or use ½ cup sugar. Proceed with the recipe as written.

Note: Nouveau Baking Recipes are Sidonie’s original method of making flours on demand from whole legumes, seeds, nuts and pseudo grains. It also works with grains. She makes delicious baked goods that satisfy the most discriminating eater while eliminating empty calories.

Peach Rye Crisp

Makes 1 large crisp or 2 smaller crisps

Serves 10

Ingredients

Fruit

6 cups diced peaches

4 tablespoons tapioca flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons brandy (I had some homemade vanilla brandy)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping

2 cups rolled oats toasted

½ cup toasted chopped almonds

1 cup local rye flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¾ cup sugar

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup cold unsalted butter (two sticks) cut into ½ inch cubes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F 190C

Butter casserole(s) for crisp

Fruit

Chop peaches, sprinkle tapioca flour, sugar, spices and brandy with fruit, mix together and let sit while you make the topping.

Topping

Toast oats in a heavy bottomed pan stirring occasionally, I use cast iron, about 4-5 minutes on low, they will smell toasty.

In a food processor add: 2 cups of the toasted oats, rye flour, almonds, sea salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Spin to combine, everything should be spun to a meal. Add cold butter and pulse 6-8 times until the size of small peas, add the last cup of rye/oat flakes and briefly pulse to just combine.

Finishing and Baking

Lay fruit on the bottom of the casserole and top it. Gently mix and move the topping so that some of it goes down into the fruit. Bake for 45-50 minutes. It should smell wonderful; Serve warm to local people.