Rainbow hued and super seasonal, this week's Dinner Tonight has a gracious elegance that might just inspire a little pinky's-up sort of behavior, which is never a bad thing. It pops and crunches with cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, and gets satisfying richness (and protein!) from delicate accents of buttermilk, cream and feta. Buy the very best you can afford (or find) as far as those touches go, and you'll have a truly heavenly little repast.
Click through on the recipe photos or titles to see (and save and print) the full recipes, but we've also written you a handy game plan below.
The Menu
Cherry Tomato Clafoutis by Meredith Shanley
Serves 2-4
Clafoutis:
3 eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup cream
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
12-14 cherry tomatoes
2 ounces goat cheese
Herb "Salad":
2 handfuls fresh basil, chiffonade
2 handfuls fresh parsley, rough chop
3 tablespoons fresh tarragon, rough chop
3 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
2 (drizzles around bowl) extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch salt
3 turns fresh cracked black pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350, liberally butter a ceramic or glass baking dish (preferably round or oval)
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and cream. Add salt, pepper, and flour, whisk until just combined.
3. Place tomatoes into buttered baking dish, spread evenly. Pour custard mixture over top.
4. Dot with goat cheese. Bake in oven until puffed and lightly browned, about 30-35 minutes.
5. Once clafoutis is out of oven, toss together herb salad (make sure to do this at the last minute so the herbs are not wilted). Serve each slice of clafoutis topped with herb salad.
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Dilled, Crunchy Sweet-Corn Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
The Grocery List (for 4)
1/3 cup cream
2/3 cup yogurt
Feta and/or goat cheese (the clafoutis calls for goat cheese & the salad calls for feta, but in the interest of simplicity this can easily be a one-cheese-fits-all sort of thing.)
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 shallot
3 ears corn
4 Persian cucumbers (or whatever good-looking cucumber you find)
1 red sweet pepper
12-14 cherry tomatoes
Fresh dill, parsley, tarragon, chives (or whatever fresh herbs you like -- the dill is the only requirement, for the salad)
We assume you have milk, eggs, white wine vinegar, onion, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. If not, you'll be needing all of that good stuff as well.
1. Begin by soaking the shallot slices in vinegar to dull their harshness, as creamtea so smartly suggests. She calls for a 20 minute dip, but a little longer here or there won't hurt.
2. Heat the oven and whip up that clafoutis. It bakes for about 30 minutes.
3. While it bakes, slice and dice the salad and mix the dressing.
4. Pull the clafoutis out and dress the salad. Serve! This dinner is begging you to open a bottle of Champagne but if that's not quite your style, a lovely white Burgundy would do the trick. Mental-health-wise, a little mid-week luxury goes a long way, so treat yourself!
For more inspiration for dinner tonight, check out FOOD52.com!
tonight, check out FOOD52.com!