When the dutch go orange, I go mango…

The last couple of days, the whole Netherlands turned into a huge orange flee market and music festival for the celebrations of Koninginnenach (Queen’s night in the forse Hague dialect) and Koninginnedag (Queen’s day), the national day over here. Crazy outfits, make up, hair, flags, food, tulips… Orange everywhere, and beer, and music, and kids running around and mary-go-rounds….

Keen on sharing cultural traditions and living in the flat lands for a while, I do my best to mix in in this orange extravaganza: This year again, on Koninginnenach, I dressed up with the one and only orange T-shirt in my attire (THE Queen’s day and other football championships’ special Tee) and my dutchie and I braved the rain into the fever of The Hague’s Koninginnenach festivities to raise our beers in honor of the family of Orange and to cheer the voluptuous and groovy emerging jazz diva Caro Emerald…

The next morning, we recovered with a brunch in front of the live broadcast of the yearly adventures of the royal family bonding with the crowd and local folklore in a couple of very proudly prepared cities/villages around the Netherlands. Revigorated, I went to take a quick pick at the eccentric free market displays in the neighboring streets. Finally, I even went along to support my dutchie cycling frenzy in an Orange special cycling race.

With all that orange frenzy, I almost forgot I had a juicy and fragrant mango getting impatient in the fruit basket. Perfect timing for a recovering sweet bite: A clafoutis* with a Caribbean twist, recipe that I improvised a couple of weeks ago for a dinner with girlfriends. Now, French purists might shout to heresy and I hesitated for a while before daring using mango and lime for this unusual clafoutis but I’m glad I followed my gut: the clafoutis dough and mango mixed into a lovely melt-in-your-mouth texture balanced with the fragrance and acidity of the lime and the delicate spiciness of a touch of fresh ginger, cardamom and vanilla.

Mango and lime clafoutis*
Clafoutis mangue et citron vert

serves 6 pers.
prep: 10 min. cook: 40 min
oven temp. 180°C/350°F

Ingredients:
1 mango, peeled, pit removed, cut into chunks;
1/2 lime (juice and grated zest);
4 medium sized eggs;
80 g blond cane sugar (I used only 60g but that was on the short side, if you’re a sweet tooth, I’d suggest 100g);
40 g flour, sifted;
40g corn flour, sifted;
1 pinch of salt
30 cl milk;
10 cl whipping cream;
25 g butter;
1 pinch fresh grated ginger;
seeds of 1 vanilla pod;
seeds of 2 cardamom pods, grounded;
1 Tsp rum;

Preheat the oven at 180°C. Put the butter in the cake shape/oven dish, and put in the oven until the butter is just melted. Remove from the oven and reserve.

Marinate the mango with the lime juice

Beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy. Incorporate the flour, corn flour and salt. Pour the milk and whip cram slowly while stirring until incorporated. Repeat with the melted butter.

Add half of the lime zest, the vanilla seeds, cardamom and ginger to the batter. Add the rum and juices from the marinade and stir.

Sprinkle the greased oven dish with sugar. Arrange the mango chunks evenly in the dish. Pour the batter. sprinkle with the rest of the lime zest and a bit of sugar.
Bake for 40 min or until nicely golden.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Bon appétit!

 
* A clafoutis is a french milk, cream and fruit based cake, just a little thicker than a flan that is popular at the end of the summer to accommodate the ‘surplus’ of cherries (but also apricots and other summer fruit) during generous harvests.