
Seasonal food and recipes: July
July is here and the market stalls are filling up with new produce: courgettes in different shades of green and yellow, both round and long, new season potatoes, tomatoes in all shapes, sizes and a variety of colours, baby new carrots and more. I love the changing seasonal produce and the new tastes and smells.

Summer fruits are now in abundance – delicious cherries are coming to an end to be replaced by vibrant apricots, heavenly scented peaches and nectarines – yellow and white, flat or round. The flat peaches we bought at the weekend lasted about a day in our house – so juicy and sweet. I also bought some wild plums. We usually have them in the garden but this year, as I have mentioned in countless blog posts, we had a late frost and lost most of our fruit. The wild plums are tiny, yellow and utterly delicious. They grow everywhere. Getting to them before the birds can be a challenge – a bit like the cherries!

As cherry season comes to an end I thought I would revisit a recipe I shared at the beginning of the year – Cherry Clafoutis, but this time with the option to make a chocolate version – and vegan!
The original recipe comes from Very Vegan Val (www.veryveganval.com). It is delicious warm or cold, and so easy to make. It keeps for a few days in the fridge, and freezes well. I often make one when we open a tin of chickpeas, so we use up the water and then pop it in the freezer. Serve with cream, Greek yogurt, crème fraiche or ice cream or the vegan equivalent if you wish.
I hope you enjoy it. Let me know.
Ali xx
Vegan Cherry Clafoutis or Chocolate Cherry Clafoutis
Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
2 tbsp cacao powder (for the chocolate version)
½ cup castor sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ cup chickpea liquid (aquafaba)
3 tbsp vegan milk – I use almond for flavour
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp coconut oil melted
2 cups of cherries
Method:
1: Preheat oven to 230C/Gas 8.
2: In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cacao powder (if using), sugar and baking powder.
3: Add the chickpea liquid, vegan milk, vanilla extract and whisk well. Then whisk in the coconut oil.
4: Let the batter stand for about 10 mins, while you prepare the fruit.
5: Cut the cherries in half and remove the stones.
6: Grease a cake pan, approx. 22cm size (use what is left from melted oil).
7: Fold the fruit through the batter and pour into the prepared dish.
8: Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick or knife blade inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9: Lightly dust with icing sugar and decorate with a couple of cherries. Serve warm or cold with cream, Greek yogurt, crème fraiche or ice cream or the vegan equivalent.
Enjoy
Variations:
The options are endless: see the post: 12 Days of Christmas Recipes: Day 1 for some suggestions. Apricots or peaches would be lovely too, omit the cacao powder.

