Sweet and Sour Cherries

They are almost in season. The trees are in blossom. The crows circle over head and at this time of the year I understand their noisy crowing: "Caw! Caw! Soon! Cherries! Caw- Caw-Caw!"

As the time for fresh fruit draws nigh, I stop hoarding the lot in the freezer and start baking cherry shortcake, cherry cobbler, cherry pie, and clafoutis. Last week I tried a new combination - a rhubarb & sour cherry pie. I wasn't sure it would work - what with two intense and tart fruits. But, it was delightful, delicious, and long gone.

When I read in glossy food magazines how difficult it is to find fresh Bing, Rainier, or sour Montmorency cherries, I am thankful to live in the Pacific Northwest. Sweet cherries will soon be readily available in our markets, and the best sour cherry tree grows right down my hill, just half a block away.

Pitting cherries is slow, tedious handwork. Various devices have been invented to pit cherries. I have an olive pitter that works all right on medium-sized Bing cherries, though as it pits, it squirts (staining) cherry juice around the kitchen a few feet in all directions. And it doesn't work at all with smaller sour cherries.

I find the old-fashioned method still works best. The old-fashioned method is to extract the cherry pit with a hairpin, the old kind of pin that forms an open wire loop. (The kind of hairpin women used when they wrapped their locks into French twists and chignons.) I've improved my pitting pin slightly. I attach the hairpin to a wooden Popsicle stick with Tuff Tape so it has a handle—of sorts—and it is easier to hold on to for a long pitting session. Tuff Tape is a thick and durable water-resistant cellophane tape (that can be purchased at Pullman or Moscow Building Supply).

This Clafoutis recipe was clipped from a many-years-old issue of Saveur Magazine. Clafoutis is a baked cherry dish that is traditional to the Limousin region of south central France. The traditional dish calls for unpitted black cherries. I prefer to cook the dish without pits. I don't trust my teeth to the ardor of my appetite. I'm afraid that in hunger I'll chomp too enthusiastically on a hard cherry pit. The dish works with sweet or sour cherries, though you may want to adjust the amount of sugar. This recipe dates from c. 1860:

Clafoutis
Serves 8

1 T. butter
1 T. vanilla extract
6 eggs
6 T. sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
2 T. kirsch
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup flour
3 cups black cherries, pitted or unpitted
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Generously butter a 9" cast-iron skillet or baking dish. Combine vanilla extract, eggs, sugar, milk, kirsch, and salt in a blender. Blend for a few seconds to mix ingredients, then add flour and blend until smooth, about 1 minute.
2. Pour batter into buttered skillet, then distribute cherries evenly over top. Bake until a skewer inserted into batter comes out clean and a golden brown crust has formed on top and bottom of clafoutis, about 30 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar if you like.

A variation: In his book, The Outlaw Cook, John Thorne has reworked the traditional clafoutis, reducing sugar to a mere 2 tablespoons and he does away with the booze, turning dessert into breakfast fare. Thorne tops his morning dish with sour crème.

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