Happy Birthday Dad!!

Now, my dad's birthday is actually Nov. 5th... So you may be wondering why I'm posting 20 days late.  Here's the deal:  I have a few dishes I want to put up on here, but that were actually made a few weeks ago.  I promise I'll catch up to my day to day cooking soon.

Back to my story...

It's dad's birthday.  School is closed due to a power outage (yes, a power outage).  I have some free time.

But what do I make?  Dad doesn't like cake...

Aha!  Julia Child never fails me, but there are so many choices.

Finally, I settle on a Clafouti aux Poires: easy to make, I have tons of pears from my CSA box ripening on my counter, and doesn't contain a lot of sugar.

Julia Child's Clafouti aux Poires
Approximate servings: 6-8

Equipment:
Blender or mixer
A 7 to 8 cup lightly buttered fireproof baking dish or pyrex pie plate about 1 1/2 inches deep (I used a Le Creuset skillet)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups milk
3 eggs
1 Tb vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour (scooped and leveled)
3 cups peeled, cored, and sliced ripe pears (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs. pears)
1/4 cup sweet white wine, kirsch, or cognac

Let pears stand for 1 hour in wine, kirsch, or cognac, and sugar.  Substitute this liquid for part of the milk called for in the batter.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the rest of the ingredients in the blender or mixer in the order in which they are listed.  Cover and blend at top speed for 1 minute.

Pour 1/4 inch layer of batter in the baking dish or pie plate.  Set over moderate heat for a minute or two, so a film of batter sets in the bottom of the dish.  Remove from heat and spread the pears out in the pan.  Pour the remainder of the batter over the pears and smooth the surface.

Place in the middle of the preheated oven and bake for approximately an hour.  You can tell the clafouti is done when you can poke a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.

I love this recipe because of its simplicity.  Everyone enjoyed it, including my youngest sister who generally tends to appreciate sweeter desserts.

Possible suggestions to tweak this recipe:

- Next time I'll try rice or soy milk to see if it affects the flavor. If it doesn't, then this would be a fabulous non-dairy recipe!