clafoutis with maple syrup and yogurt

its a slow morning around here. only about -20 outside, but windy as anything, so i suppose its actually a fast morning! walking between the cabin and the shop is like going through a wind tunnel. sitting in the outhouse is a whole other matter! i swear there is a choir sitting outside the window - the wind doesn't come through thank goodness, but the sound it makes whizzing past the the glass and through the trim is really quite amazing. my ski yesterday afternoon was fabulous going one direction. if i had a sail i could have gone for miles! but coming back home was kinda chilly. why is it always up hill, or windier, or colder when you have to go home? it should be the other way around. 

i got up early this morning, put water on for coffee, turned on the radio and started breakfast. we have to get our groceries hauled in by skidoo, so some things are a little harder to get - like eggs. whole, lovely, in the shell, good eggs! we do have liquid eggs, but i have a really hard time using them. the colour, the smell, consistency, its just not right. i use them for baking and that sort of thing, where they are disguised to the greatest degree, but that’s about it. 

hen travis snowmobiled to oxford house last week, he brought a couple dozen eggs back with him - dated march 11th! which is kind of crazy - i'm not really sure how that is possible! but nonetheless they are eggs and they're lovely! so this morning i splurged and made clafoutis. (pronounced cla-foo-tee). its a sort of a weekend-morning breakfast thing. you bake it in a cast iron frying pan in the oven and eat it with a little maple syrup drizzled on top. i like my slice with a little dollop of yogurt on top as well. its supremely yummy with a nice hot cup of coffee. 

pre-heat your oven to 375 and in a blender combine the first 6 ingredients, 

1 1/3 cups milk
2 tablespoons sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen berries (raspberries are my favorite) but pretty much anything'll work. 

put a 9" cast iron pan in the oven with 1 tablespoon of butter in it, just long enough for it to get hot and melt the butter. take it out of the oven and carefully tilt to distribute the butter. pour in the batter, and sprinkle the berries on top. set the timer for about 30-35 minutes and go back to bed! you'll have to get out of bed again when the timer goes off, but its a totally fabulous way to start the day :)