Vanilla bean flan with a duo of strawberry

This popular French dessert, a pastry crust filled with baked vanilla custard, is often called a Parisian flan. You’ll find it in patisseries all over France. Try this version at home with a fresh strawberry salad.

Credit: Blink TV

• serves

  8

• prep

  45 minutes

• cook

  2:30 hours

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

Pastry

• 250 g (1 ⅔ cups) plain flour
• 100 g icing sugar, plus extra to serve
• 30 ml (⅓ cup) almond meal
• ¼ tsp table salt
• 150 g unsalted butter, cold and diced
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Strawberry jam

• 300 g strawberries
• 100 g caster sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Flan

• 750 ml (3 cups) pure cream
• 2 vanilla beans, halved lengthways and seeds scraped
• 12 egg yolks
• 125 g caster sugar

Strawberry salad

• 250 g strawberries, hulled
• 1 tbsp lemon verbena leaves
• 1 lemon

Chilling time: 1.5 hours

Standing time: 2 hours

Instructions

1. For the pastry, place the flour in a large bowl with the icing sugar, almond meal and salt, then mix to combine. Using your hands, work in the butter. Add the egg and mix to just combine. Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
   
2. Meanwhile, for the jam, place the strawberries, sugar and vanilla bean in a small saucepan and cook over low - medium heat, stirring occasionally until the strawberries are broken down and the syrup is thickened. Stir in the lemon juice, then remove from the heat and remove the vanilla.
   
3. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured worksurface into a 3 mm thick round. Place a 22 cm bottomless cake ring on a lined baking tray, then place the rolled pastry on top to cover the base and sides and to slightly overlap the edge. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes.
   
4. Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Line the tart with baking paper and place baking beads or rice inside the tart to cover the base and sides of the tart. Bake for 50 minutes or until light golden. Remove the baking beads and paper, then brush the tart with the beaten egg yolk and bake for another 2 minutes to set the egg yolk. If the pastry isn’t shiny, repeat brushing and baking. Reduce the oven temperature to 100˚C.
   
5. For the flan, place the cream, vanilla bean seeds and scraped beans into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium heat, then remove from the heat and stand for 2 minutes.
   
6. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and whisk lightly to just combine. Gently whisk in the boiled cream to just combine. Strain through a fine sieve and pour into the lined tart. Carefully place into the oven and bake for 1.5 hours or until the custard is just set. Remove the tart from the oven and allow to rest for 2 hours. Trim the edge of the tart using a bread knife.
   
7. For the strawberry salad, cut the strawberries into halves or quarters and toss in a bowl with the icing sugar and lemon verbena.
   
8. To serve, cut the tart into slices and place on serving plates. Place the strawberry salad on the side and use a microplane to finely grate lemon zest over the salad.

Photography by Blink TV. Styling by Blink TV. Food preparation by Guillaume Brahimi.

From Normandy to the Spanish border, follow Guillaume Brahimi along the French Atlantic at SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.