fracas

Last week I returned from foodporn rehab a bit of a break from the Friday Food Porn by posting about a very special tree.  I was doing a bit of blog-tidying up and came across an old link from a previous time when I’d been remiss in posting the Friday Food Porn. An old friend had come to my aid and posted his version to make up for my missing porn. His had a bit of a different spin on it though, he called it the Friday Porn Food. His spin? As he put it so eloquently:

Since Fracas hasn’t made her Friday post highlighting food that naturally looks pornographic, I have decided to fill in for her somewhat by providing my own style of post. This morning instead of fruit that looks like porn, I would like to present to you porn that looks like fruit.

I, because I was obviously either lazy or away, hadn’t seen his post and so, am bringing it to your attention now. Now is a good time anyway though, because he’s not sure if he should keep up his blog. Bit of a writer’s block he claims.

I thought it would be nice if we could all pop over there and each post him one idea of something to write about, and perhaps this might help him get ‘up’ again.

If not, fracas is planning on surfing over there in the middle of the night, and hurling a few of this week’s food porn item at his blog. Heck… if that doesn’t give him something to write about, nothing will… so please do help save him from that. Tomatoes can be a bugger to clean off a blog you know!

Then again, based on this week’s item, one never knows… he might actually like that.

Enjoy these while they’re still whole (and not all over Andy’s blog.)

Tomato and Pecorino Clafoutis

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
450 g cherry tomatoes
4 tbsp snipped fresh chives
85 g mature pecorino cheese, coarsely grated
6 large eggs
45 g plain flour
3 tbsp sour cream
300 ml semi-skimmed milk

Preheat the oven to 190ºC (375ºF). Lightly oil 4 shallow ovenproof dishes, each 12–15 cm (5–6 in) in diameter. Divide the cherry tomatoes among the dishes, spreading them out, and sprinkle over the chives and 75 g (2d oz) of the cheese. Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk them together, then gradually whisk in the flour until smooth. Add the sour cream, then gradually whisk in the milk to make a thin, smooth batter. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the batter over the tomatoes, dividing it evenly among the dishes. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and an extra grinding of pepper. Bake for 30–35 minutes or until set, puffed and lightly golden. Remove the tomato and pecorino clafoutis from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes before serving, as the tomatoes are very hot inside.

More Ideas:

• Bake one large clafouti, using a lightly oiled 23 cm (9 in) round ovenproof dish that is about 5 cm (2 in) deep. Increase the baking time to 35–40 minutes.
• Use torn fresh basil leaves or chopped fresh oregano instead of chives.
• For a Red Leicester and onion clafouti, cut 250 g red onions into thin wedges and fry in 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for about 5 minutes or until golden. Stir in 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves towards the end of the cooking. Scatter the onions over the bottom of a lightly oiled 23 cm (9 in) round ovenproof dish that is about 5 cm (2 in) deep. Coarsely grate 85 g Red Leicester cheese and sprinkle all but a small handful of it over the onions. Make the batter as in the main recipe and pour over the onions. Give the mixture a stir, then sprinkle over the remaining cheese and a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Bake for 35–40 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Plus Points:

• Pecorino is a hard Italian cheese made from sheep’s milk. Like Parmesan, it is quite high in fat, but need only be used in small quantities as it has a rich, strong flavour.
• Both sour cream and single cream – the fresh version of sour cream – contain considerably more calcium than other creams.
• Tomatoes contain lycopene, a valuable antioxidant that may help to protect against prostate, bladder and pancreatic cancers if tomatoes are included in the diet regularly.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30–35 minutes
Serves 4

Nutritional information:

PER SERVING: calories 392; protein 26 g; fat 26 g (of which saturated fat 11 g); carbohydrate 17 g (of which sugars 8 g); fibre 1.5 g

Recipe Source

As always, leftovers are in the Fracas Friday Food Porn Pantry, and please… unless you want to wake up some morning to find your blog covered in fraccy tomatoes, support this fraccy tomato-tossing tart blogger by choosing one of the following:

1. Vote for this (and/or any other post) at humor-blogs.
2. Go click on the text ads over at fraccers, so she’ll have more time to spend here.
3. Leave a donation to help keep the fraccy boobs in business.
4. Add http://fracas.wordpress.com  and/or http://fraccers.com to your blogroll.

Merci!