This month’s Kitchen Bootcamp challenge – Eggs and Breakfast – was one I was struggling a little with. I understood Jen’s choice (she’s 7 months pregnant and was looking for easy recipes to complete in the height of summer!) but many of the recipes were much heavier dishes than I usually eat on a summer morning for breakfast. Eggs in particular. Until I visited the magical Medieval village of Seguret, just a stone’s throw from our rental home in Sablet.
We visited in the middle of the day, when most of the streets of the village were empty. The couple of restaurants with outdoor patios were quietly full, with people enjoying cold glasses of rosé with lunch. We spent a while wandering the picturesque streets. It’s really like something out of a film.
Hungry, and not realising that we should have booked a table at one of the aforementioned outdoor patio restaurants (hadn’t realised that Seguret was so tiny), we remembered spotting a tea room on the ascent up through the cobblestone streets. We managed to find our way back to La Maison d’Eglantine – a tiny literally hole-in-the-wall place advertising, curiously a “Clafoutis de Ratatouille” which Cathy and I couldn’t resist. A savoury clafoutis? I needed to know more…
We squeezed our party of five into the tiny space and were rewarded with this view of *our* village – Sablet – from the window.
With only a couple of items on the menu (the clafoutis and a charcuterie platter, both served with a wonderfully fresh salad of haricots verts – French string beans) and a wonderful selection of cakes and pastries, it’s a nice option for those who don’t want a full-on meal (outside). It’s lovely and cool inside the thick stone-walled building too – respite from the heat. Meaning, that eggs – clafoutis – won’t be a problem to eat because it’s not that hot. Or at least it doesn’t feel like it in there!
The clafoutis came in a tiny wooden box, baked in parchment paper and served as an individual portion. It was really different to what I had been expecting – I was wondering if it might just be a crustless quiche, but it wasn’t. It really was a savoury custard – not sweet – studded with pieces of flavourful ratatouille and baked until crispy on top. A revelation!
Having been inspired by Kate Hill in Camont earlier in July when she made this peach clafoutis for us and by some experimenting at La Cuisine Paris during my recipe testing sessions, I set about making a non-cheesy yet flavourful custard… I remembered that Kate had added a tiny amount of cornmeal to her batter for the sweet clafoutis, so I figured that might be something to try with these. If nothing else, it woud produce a rich yellow colour. I’ll admit that I lucked out on my first go with this batter – it was perfect!
Individual savoury clafoutis baked with ratatouille - perfect for breakfast, or anytime! As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.Individual ratatouille clafoutis
Ingredients
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For the ratatouille, I used Julia Child’s recipe, though I made sure to cube the vegetables a little smaller than she calls for, since the ramekins are quite small. I also didn’t cook it as long, leaving the veggies a little “al dente” as they are going to cook in the oven again anyway.
And the result?
For me, this was really successful. Tasted exactly like the one I had eaten in Séguret. The custard was firm and golden yellow. The vegetables were not too mushy. And despite having seen a number of recipes for savoury clafoutis calling for cheese, it totally didn’t need it. THEN it would be a boring crustless quiche, not an exotic sounding clafoutis de ratatouille! I am not sure how much Mr Neil enjoyed this as a late Sunday dinner (since, you know, there was no meat…) but it’s perfect for breakfast. Also easy to prepare first thing in the morning.
The possibilities for filling this are endless and I’ll definitely be trying it again. So not one from the book (sorry Jen) but a wonderful new creation! Try it – you might surprise yourself!
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That looks a gorgeous place! 🙂
It is indeed!
Alas, Mr. Neil did not particularly enjoy this. (And no, it wasn’t the lack of meat…)
The cornmeal pooled and solidified at the bottom of my dish, making it a bit of clafoutis sitting on a whollop of polenta. Odd, and not entirely unified.
However, since Mardi will be trying this again – am sure I’ll end up with one that works better. 🙂
Well to be fair, you had one of the larger ones and one that had been reheated probably a tad too long. That “solid” isn’t entirely “off” either. I should have given you the smaller one ;(
A lovely idea! I was wondering what distinguished it from a crustless quiche, until you mentioned the cheese!
Imagine, no need for cheese…!!
I want to make one myself: the one on the photo looks just absolutely wonderful! Going to check local library for the book. Cook’s Illustrated usually have very good recipes, and all well tested, and tasted…:)
Yes it’s a great book!
Wow, Séguret is beautiful! Makes me miss la France. I have to admit that ratatouille was never my fave, but probably because of overload in our work canteen. What a lovely idea though to incorporate it into clafoutis. I’ll have to try your recip!
Definitely not your work canteen ratatouille!
As much as I love ratatouille, I tire of it by end of summer. This is a perfect alternative!
A nice way to eat your veggies, huh?
Brilliant! I can’t wait to make this.
So easy, so good!
This will definitely cheer up ratatouille for me, thanks 🙂
A nice change, for sure!
What a delicious and pretty breakfast. It would be fabulous for house guests.
Sam
Great idea!
What a perfect use for all these late summer vegetables! Gorgeous photos. How do you get such great, punched-up color without it looking over-saturated? Amazing!
Not sure – the eggs were VERY yellow and the ratatouille is pretty vibrant too…
This looks amazingly good. I mean wow…fantastic!
Thanks!
Mr. Neil’s comment does not detract me from wanting to make this dish. I’m a sucker for savoury egg dishes, and I reckon this will be a good base for all kinds of savoury clafoutis. In fact, I have some leftover grilled veg from tonight’s dinner that might work well. And it just looks so damned pretty!
Lesson learnt in Seguret: never pass by a hole in the wall without looking in. The menu was, shall we say, limited but the lunch was a delightful respite from the heat. I had the charcuterie which was filling and very tasty and went down exteremely well with a beer. To mix cuisine metaphors, the view was the icing on the cake.
Wasn’t that a lovely lunch?
This sounds amazing.. eggs are definitely my go-to food and I’m always happy to find a new way to make them!
It’s a nice change!
this is a great idea as well!! i love eggs and this is going to be a hit with me and H of course
Awesome breakfast food!
I made your recipe this afternoon with some leftover grilled vegetables (red peppers, green beans, onion and sweetcorn, plus a little raw tomato and fresh basil tossed into the mix). Mr. Neil is correct in that the polenta does pool at the bottom, but I LOVED this effect! I felt like I was eating a polenta pie – and the polenta dust on the edges gets nice and brown and is yummy when scraped off the sides of the ramekin. Also, the polenta worked VERY nicely with the sweetcorn. If anything I felt this could have used more salt (my fault entirely). This was very easy and infinitely adaptable (I’m thinking rosemary needs to be involved next time). Will make again, and I look forward to enjoying my leftover clafoutis for breakfast tomorrow.
Yay Monica – I KNEW you would like this!
You’ve missed out the secret sausage for the vegetarian!! It really was a great little lunch spot. I have since seen the wooden baskets (exact same ones) somewhere in London but now can’t think where it was!!
Ah yes the secret sausage. next time. That’s like a fancy toad in the hole, non?
Making a savory clafoutis never even dawned on me….but it looks fantastic! Mr. Bill wouldn’t have liked it, either 🙂
Siiiigh!
Love this idea! I usually add almond flour to my cherry clafoutis — I wonder how that would work in a savory setting? I also wonder if the mixture would separate less if it was baked in a larger dish?
Interestingly, I just had a clafoutis aux tomates on my Air France flight to Hong Kong. (It was laced with mustard.) Perhaps savory clafoutis are au courant!
Well look at me being all “au courant” and I didn’t even know it! Actually the “pooling effect” was only in the slightly larger ramekins (held about the same amount as two of the smaller ones). But I quite likes it and a clafoutis needs a bit of body, n’est-ce pas?
Oh, this looks perfect! Love this idea for the Kitchen Bootcamp challenge this month. I will have to give this one a try.
Please do Jen!