Blond Beer, Fresh Cherry & Orange Zest Clafoutis
Don’t just drink it…. A little bit of beer makes all the difference.
Are you a beer lover?
To be honest, I’m not, although after a drink, or three, of this blond beer, I might be tempted..
In the past, I’ve never really been a true connoisseur of beer.
Not to say I’ve not had my fair share of a bottle or two, but never has a beer been the first drink I’ve reached for as a thirst quencher on a warm day.
Until I met up with Chris in his South Shields brewery, (my first face to face meeting in months) and was given a sample of their Blond beer to take home and play around with, I’d really never paid that much attention to beer of any sort.
That included the brewing of it.
Of course, there was always the occasional bottle of light beer at our July 4th family BBQ (that’s a story for another time).
Or the time when my son, now a man of 28, called me out for not drinking and challenged me to a beer drinking competition.
Those occasions are few and far between, and I’ve patiently relied on the lovely Mr G to be the guru to coach me about the virtues of light, dark, pale and draft beers.
That stops now! No more head in the sand.
It may not be July 4th as yet, but i feel that now is the time to say the words out loud and embrace the challenge of learning more about the beers made by Chris at One More Than Two brewery.
As I place my hand on heart and look in the direction of South Shields, I swear a pledge:
I give assurance, that as I spend more time in my kitchen playing with the beer, (and by that, I mean develop more recipes) I will drink, sup, nip, gulp, slurp, glug, swill and lap all beers given to me until I have full knowledge of every beer lovingly produced from the One More Than Two brewery.
Will this mean I have to sample more alcohol? Yes.
Will it mean that there will be more recipes using other beers brewed by One More Than Two? Of course.
Will it also mean that I will probably be a little buzzed a lot of the time?
I admit nothing.
Oh, in case you’re interested, of course I came first in the drinking challenge.
Tip to winning, don’t take your beer bottle straight from the fridge.
Room temperature is key.
Enjoy Your Sweet Life
Lee
Blond Beer, Fresh Cherries & Orange Clafoutis
From the oven dusted with icing sugar ready for mouth
What you need
100ml Blond beer – I used One More Than Two Brew
400g-500g Fresh cherries – washed and pips removed -See Tip Box
200g Icing sugar– Extra for sprinkling on the top
125g plain flour
20g butter for greasing
3 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
100 ml milk
3 Large oranges - Zest & juice
No need to spend money on expensive equipment when a straw will do the job!
How It’s Done
Place the prepared cherries, vanilla, and the icing sugar in a bowl, give them a good mix, cover and leave aside for at least 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 180C – See Tip Box
Use the butter to grease the inside of a pie dish, or a quiche dish
Sprinkle the remaining orange zest around the inside of the dish, so its nicely spread out.
Drain the cherries - keep the liquid- See Tip Box
Pour the cherries into the prepared dish and spread them out to cover the bottom of the dish.
In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, flour, beer, orange juice and beat until you have a smooth batter
Pour the mixture over the cherries.
Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and still a little soft in the middle -See Tip Box
Ready for the oven
Tip Box
De-stoning cherries- a) It can sometimes be difficult to take the stones out of small fruit such as cherries. My tip is to use a straw, and push them out. You can buy a specialised tool to do this, but how often do you need to do this to cherries to warrant this buy?
b) Cherries – how many? – I’ve specified 400-500g of cherries in the recipe. How many you actually use depends on how big our dish is.
Ovens – All ovens vary so adjust the coking time accordingly
Middle slightly soft- When the clafoutis is cooked, you’re not looking for a very, very firm middle. Set but still a little softness is ideal
Cherry juice- Don’t waste all that lovely juice from the cherries. If you don’t want to use beer, use the same amount of this juice instead, just remember it will turn the batter a different colour. Or you can make into a cherry ice-cream and add some fresh cherries too. Make it into a granita, or add some sparkling wine, lemonade or soda water to it for a tasty cocktail, alcohol or alcohol free.
Serve with cream, creme fresh , custard or just dig straight in.
