Neddy’s Kitchen

AUDIO — How To Cook Fish, read by Andy Minter of Librivox.org .

From “How to Cook Fish” By Olive Green
“One Hundred Miscellaneous Recipes,” Section XVII
Published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1908
Original from Harvard University
Digitized Jun 28, 2007
522 pages

Clafouti for Fathers’ Day

Last year during cherry season I discovered the French dessert clafouti (or clafoutis) that contains fresh cherries. Captain Cliff loved it, so I made it this year for a Fathers’ Day celebration.

The Captain and I continue to like it, however none of our family took to it. One said that it tasted like bread pudding. Maybe that’s why we like it. If you want to try it, my recipe follows. Traditionally, “unpitted” black cherries are used, however, here in the U.S. dentistry is so expensive that I opted to be non-traditional. I used an olive pitter to remove all cherrystones before baking. In addition, last year I made it with Ranier cherries. I always have trouble keeping with tradition, as I like to innovate.

Edna’ s Clafouti
Serves 8

• 1 T butter
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 6-7 eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cup whole milk, half & half, or fresh cream (depending upon how rich you desire the resulting custard)
• 2 T kirsch or rum
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/3 cup almond flour (Use 2/3 cup of regular flour if you do not have ground almonds.)
• 3-4 cups fresh black cherries, pitted (unpitted for traditional)
• Confectioners’ sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Generously butter a 9″ cast-iron skillet or baking dish. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon granulated brown sugar.

Blend vanilla extract, eggs, sugar, milk, kirsch, and salt with an electric mixer or blender. for a few seconds, then add flours and blend until smooth, about 1 minute.

Pour batter into buttered skillet, then distribute cherries evenly over top. Bake until a skewer inserted into batter comes out clean and a golden brown crust has formed on top and bottom, about 30 to 40 minutes. Cool on a rack and then dust with confectioners’ sugar.

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From My Kitchen

My favorite utilitarian cookware is shiny stainless steel All-Clad. I use it for everyday cooking. It is so hard and shiny that food does not stick to it when cooking and it is a breeze to clean. There is no need at all for the Teflon coating. The above photograph is from my kitchen where you can see that I have three All-Clads hanging in a row, right along with my collection of antique copperware. I recommend only the shiny steel finish as it looks beautiful too. The anodized gray finish does not wear well, and of course the copper, although beautiful, needs constant polishing.
All-Clad MC2 7-Piece Cookware Set

Salad of Tokyo Turnips with Ruby Red Grapefruit ‘Confit’, Baby Celery Leaves and Celery Branch ‘Coulis’.

The French Laundry is said to be one of the most reknown restaurants in the world. However, I had never heard of it before, but that stands to reason, as I am one who spends time in my own kitchen and dining room. Here is a slide show from Flickr of what you get for $600+. BON APPETIT!

If you decide to give it a try, Wikipedia informs that you must get your reservation in two months ahead. The reservations line is open from 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m, Pacific Time, however don’t bother calling after noon, as all openings are booked by then and there is no answering machine.

The Slide Show

The image, Salad of Tokyo Turnips, was originally uploaded by Josh Thompson. It is posted here from .