Friday, September 07, 2018

On the MENU this week. Onion Flan


Lynne needed something good to eat for our Wine Club meeting this week, but didn’t have any time to go to the supermarket, it has been so hectic. So it had to be from the store cupboard. There was a roll of cheese and herb pastry in the freezer, she had cream from Sunday lunch. We always have eggs and lots of onions. So this was easy and quick
Roll the pastry out when defrosted and cover the base of a greased 21/22 cm quiche/flan tin. Crimp the edges and keep in the fridge while you make the filling
1 roll of shop bought shortcrust pastry - 4 large onions, peeled and sliced – 50g butter – 1 bay leaf, preferably fresh - a grating or 2 of nutmeg – sea salt and pepper – 2 eggs – 275ml cream
Melt the butter in a large heavy bottomed pan. Add the onions and a liberal pinch of salt. Gently cook the onions, covered with a greaseproof paper cartouche, until they are quite soft and golden brown, stirring gently once or twice to prevent them sticking – do NOT fry them. They will caramelise in their own juices and be quite sweet and begin to break up. This will take about half an hour. Taste and then season with black pepper, nutmeg and more salt if necessary. Mix the eggs with the cream and beat them gently. Cool the onions, remove the cartouche and the bay leaf, then stir in the egg mixture. Pour into the pastry, place on a baking sheet and bake in a hot oven at 200ºC for 30 minutes. It should still have a little wobble in the centre. Serve hot or cold with a crisp green salad

To make a cartouche. Cut a square of greaseproof paper that will cover your pan surface. Fold it in half, then again and then again, and again till you have a sharp wedge of paper. Put the tip in the centre of the pan and tear off the wide edge so that it comes just over the edge of the pan. Open it up and you will have a circle that fits loosely over the onions in the pan. You don’t need to push it down, just so that it keeps the moisture in the onions

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