Comfort Food Zone

An easy recipe for a summer favorite! I need summer food now as we get shrouded in white cold stuff up to our earmuffs here in Winter Wonderland.

And for some reason, cherries are especially cheap right now at my corner store market!

So Emeril has a good one: you do not need the vanilla bean if you have REAL vanilla. (Hope you have a good Caribbean friend that travels home often or good tickets for Reunion Island where passion for vanilla is an Art in itself!) And you can also substitute rum for brandy.

Black women of sunny Antilles heritage won't be able to resist to spice it up a bit and indeed a touch of cinnamon never hurts.

My girls were happy to give a hand and it is not a very messy or very long recipe so it was finish in a breeze! The aroma from the oven is comfort enough...

Clafoutis aux cerises / Cherry Clafoutis

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split in half
• 1 tablespoon brandy
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 pound stoned cherries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an oval ovenproof dish about 13 inches long. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Scrape the vanilla bean and add the pulp to the egg mixture. Stir in the brandy and flour. Whisk in the milk to form a smooth batter. In a mixing bowl, toss the cherries with the remaining sugar. Place the cherries in the ovenproof dish. Pour the batter over the cherries and place in the oven. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until the cake is sponge like. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before serving. Serve the clafoutis warm. Garnish with powdered sugar.