In the midst of cherry season, getting ready for plum/red currant/apricot season, is the time to be ready to whip up an anything-goes pudding. While book shopping recently, I flipped through a cookbook (no, I cannot resist another book on food and wine), a page illustrating “Apple, Grape, and Madeira Clafoutis” got my attention. Now this does reach into the realm of improvisation, I thought, and bought The Wine Lover Cooks with Wine: Great Recipes for the Essential Ingredient. Not only did this luscious book keep me awake during a long journey, but it has informed and inspired me in the kitchen. The author, Sid Goldstein, has very clearly set out the rules of the game in seven chapters focused on technique. Sauces, steaming, simmering, marinating and braising are the basics, to which he adds a few choice side dishes, then concludes with desserts and drinks. This Chronicle book, published in 2004, is one of the most practical sources on wine cuisine that I have used in several years. I’m hoping he will expand in a sequel. Meanwhile, I’ll sip a glass of Muscat de Frontignan with this crusty clafoutis….a little more, please.