Cherry time.

Fresh cherries are wonderful but it's quite difficult getting to them before the birds have eaten them.  One day the cherries are changing colour and we think hmm, couple more days and we'll be able to start picking, the next day they are much redder and riper so we start to pick the ripest, one more day and they are all ready.  Off we go with a bucket and get several kilos - too many to cope with really all in one go but better that than lose them altogether.

Three days later and the tree has been stripped clean, just loads of cherry stones on the ground.

So we've eaten them straight from the stalk,  de-stoned and had them with ice cream,  (strawberry cheesecake flavour which tasted like vanilla but was nice and then with triple chocolate which was scrumptious)   de-stoned half a kilo and put in a large wide necked jar with brandy and sugar which we have to keep for at least a month before trying and  then I made a very large pudding called Cherry Clafoutis  which made 6 portions.  It's a French dish apparently... easily made, only needs basic ingredients which we always have.

Half a kilo of de-stoned cherries,  put  them in a buttered oven proof dish.   The recipe said  10" diameter but mine is an 8 by 10 rectangle and it was fine.   Whisk together 3 eggs and 11 fluid ounces of milk until it's frothy, then add it to 2 1/2 ounces of flour, mixed with 2 ounces of sugar.  Beat well and pour over the cherries.  Bake for 1 hour at 200°C  till it's golden brown, well risen and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean. That's it - simple but tasty.  You're supposed to dredge it with icing sugar when it's cooked but we didn't have any.

Leave for 15 minutes - it's meant to be eaten warm for some reason that's beyond me, I'm sure it tastes just as good piping hot!  Also I have 3 variations of  this recipe,  one from a French cook book uses more cream than milk, also you can soak the cherries in 3 ounces of kirsch first so then you need less milk.

I have a cherry de-stoner - actually it was given to us as an olive de-stoner and is used more often for olives than cherries.  But it's still a messy business, juice was dripping off my hands and squirting everywhere - John said I looked like something out of  a gory horror movie!  Lots of different de-stoners available but this is the closest I can find to the one we have.