Don't Sweat the Aubergine

third of the way up the stoned and halved fruit.
    Blackcurrant and/or redcurrant crumble . Simply mix 600g of them in an oven dish with 3 tbsp sugar, cover with crumble, and bake.
PLUM CLAFOUTIS
    Is it a custard? Is it a batter? Recipes disagree. The one I like best, of which the following is an adaptation, is quite a custardy one; it comes from Raymond Blanc’s
Blanc Mange
. My version never resembles the one on the cover of the book – but then, you don’t expect that to happen, do you? It tastes pretty good, nonetheless.
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    For 6
    Syrup: 150ml water, 50g caster sugar
    12 plums, halved, stones removed
    1/2 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla essence
    55ml milk
    55ml double or whipping cream
    3 eggs
    90g caster sugar
    200g plain flour
    In a wide saucepan, warm the syrup; when it’s simmering, add the plums (which should all have access to the water), and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, turning them halfway through. You don’t need to put the lid on the pan. Check to see that the plums are soft, but not mushy. You can let them cool in the saucepan, covered.
    Split the vanilla pod lengthways, add it, with scraped-out seeds, to the milk and cream in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer . Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let the vanilla flavour infuse for 20 minutes. Remove the pod.
    You want to get air into the eggs. Whisk them with the sugar using a hand-held whisk until they have expanded considerably in volume, and become very pale. It could take 10 minutes, or longer. Stir in the flour, and then the milk and cream, which – if you want to lose the vanilla seeds – you can pour on to the mixture through a sieve. (If you’re using vanilla essence, you won’t need to have heated the milk and cream beforehand. Simply add the vanilla now.)
    Or you could introduce airiness by separating the eggs and whisking the whites (see points 5 and 6, here ). Pour the milk and cream – in which, this time, you have dissolved the sugar – gradually into the yolks, stirring all the time; gradually stir in the flour, and then fold in the whites.
    I use a flan dish with a diameter of about 23cm. Grease it with a little oil; lay the plums in it; pour over the batter; bake in a gas mark 4/180°C oven, for about 30 to 35 minutes, until just set.
    You could boil down the syrup to use as a sauce.
    You’re supposed to wait until the clafoutis is tepid; but I don’t see why you shouldn’t eat it hot.
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VARIATIONS
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    Raymond Blanc’s recipe is for apricot clafoutis; the apricots are prepared as above. He also includes some alcohol: for the recipe above, you’d want about a tablespoon of amaretto liqueur, poured into the custard/batter mixture. A classic clafoutis involves cherries, which don’t require pre-cooking and are simply mixed with the custard/ batter . Guests have to pick out the stones themselves, while eating. How many would you like? About 36 in total, I’d suggest.
    You might prefer the simpler (and less floury) clafoutis batter from Arabella Boxer’s
Mediterranean Cookbook:
3 eggs, 3 tbsp caster sugar, 3 tbsp flour, 600ml heated milk. The technique is the same.
Two mousses
CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    For 6
    150g dark chocolate (with at least 70 per cent cocoa solids – Green & Black’s makes a fine mousse)
    25g butter, cut into small cubes
    6 eggs, separated 1
    Break the chocolate into its squares, and melt it in a bowl held above a pan of simmering water. (I have a Pyrex bowl that rests on the edges of a saucepan.) Stir the chocolate to encourage melting, and remove it from the heat as soon as, or slightly before, all the lumps have disappeared. 2 Drop in the butter.
    Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. 3 Take about a quarter of the white and beat it into the chocolate and butter. The mixture should retain the texture and consistency of thick chocolate sauce. Now stir in the yolks. 4
    Pour the chocolate mixture over the egg whites. Fold it in, using a lifting and turning motion with the spoon until amalgamated. 5 Transfer to a dish, or to individual ramekins, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
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VARIATIONS
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    You could include double or whipping cream (150ml, say), whipped until it is thick but not until it stiffens. I find a mousse that’s eggy, chocolatey and creamy as well a bit much. But, if you’re nervous about raw eggs, you could go for simple chocolate pots: mix 150g melted chocolate with 300g whipped cream. Refrigerate. That’s it.
    Chocolate