‘Flan’ means one thing to a Spaniard, and a totally different thing to an English person. Granted, they are both desserts. The English flan involves pastry and usually a custardy filling. The Spanish version cuts to the best bit: custard without pastry. In England, we know it as Crème Caramel. To me, that meant an anaemic version my mother made with powder from a box [don’t ask, it was the Sixties]. This recipe is from Omar Allibhoy’s new book Tapas Revolution. He describes it as el flan de mi madre and says it’s the best he has ever tasted. I haven’t tasted many, but this tasted divine. It didn’t look so great, but with hindsight that’s probably because our condensed milk was ‘light’. We won’t make that mistake again: if you’re going to eat flan, you have to accept condensed milk in all its gooey glory.3 eggs
1 400g tin condensed milk
700ml full-fat milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
For the caramel:-
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp water Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
You need two dishes. First, fill a large deep-sided oval pie dish with water to use as your bain marie [we used a large roasting tin to do this job]. Your second dish, in which the flan will cook, needs to fit into this larger dish. First, make the caramel. Place the sugar and water into an ovenproof dish [we used a small saucepan] and put over a high heat until it starts to turn into a golden caramel. Swirl the caramel around the bottom of the smaller dish so that it covers the bottom and comes a little up the sides. Whisk the eggs, condensed milk, milk and vanilla extract together. Pour this mixture into the caramelized dish and cover with foil. Place this dish into the bain marie and carefully put both into the oven. Do not let any water from the bain marie transfer into your flan dish. Cook in the oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing the foil. Place a plate over the top, flip over and remove the cooking dish. The caramel should run down the sides of the flan.
5 to remember
el flan – crème caramel
la crema– custard
la versión – version
anémico/a – anaemic
la caja – box

‘Tapas Revolution’ by Omar Allibhoy