Serves 10
This Deep Dish Cheese & Tomato Flan was made for a sunny, spring evening Sunday Tea Tray supper.
Made in an oblong deep dish, it yields lots of cheesy egg custard filling, with sweet seasonal tomatoes, and not too much pastry.
You could also use a deep, round pie dish too - it's just that I had an oblong pyrex dish to hand, and I actually prefer square pieces of flan too.
I'm very keen on a good old-fashioned English flan. Why not a quiche you may ask? Having lived in France for many years, I see a quiche as being just eggs with lardons.
And, there is no cheese in a traditonal quiche Lorraine either. It’s basically a savoury custard of eggs, creme fraiche (or cream), bacon (lardons) with a touch of nutmeg.
A flan however, can be any ingredients you wish to add to a savoury egg custard which is then baked in a pastry case.
INGREDIENTS:
1 x 340g ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
1/2 red onion, finely diced
6 medium eggs, beaten with 150mls milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
225g extra mature Cheddar cheese, grated
6 tomatoes, 4 of them cut into small dice, and the 2 remaining sliced thinly for the garnish topping
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Place a baking sheet in the oven to heat up - this helps with baking the base of the flan. Line a deep dish flan or pie tin with baking paper.
2. Carefully ease the pastry into the lined dish, trimming off the excess pastry around the rim if needed.
3. Scatter the diced red onion ovee the pastry base, then add the diced tomatoes.
4. Season the egg and milk mixture with salt and pepper. Add three quarters of the grated cheese to the egg mixture and pour it over the onions and tomatoes.
5. Arrange the remaining sliced tomatoes over the top of the egg mixture, and the scatter the rest of the grated cheese over the top.
6. Place the flan dish on the baking sheet and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown, and the filling is set but still a bit wobbly.
7. Remove the flan from the oven and allow to come to room temperature, before easing it out of the dish and serving in squares.
NOTES:
Perfect with salad and baked potatoes, as well as for lunch boxes and picnics.
Use any strong hard cheese you have to hand.
Use different colour tomatoes if you can source them.
Add more onion or even some snipped spring onions to the recipe if you wish.
