Vanilla-Caramel Flan: as simple as that!

I miss some French deserts, especially the most common like the Flan. Here is my recipe for Vanilla-Caramel Flan, very easy and delicious for all the family!

Ingredients (for 10 ramekins):

For the Flan:

1l. of milk

6 Tbsp of sugar

6 eggs

1 tsp of vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla bean, it is even better!)

For the caramel:

1/3 cup of water

3/4 cup of sugar

+/- 1 Tbsp of lemon juice

Preheat the oven at 200°.

Mix the milk and the sugar into a pot and heat it on a medium heat. Stop before it boils.
When the milk is being heated, mix the 6 eggs into a large bowl.

At this stage, you can start preparing the caramel, put the water and the sugar into a pot and bring it to boiling on a hot heat. Stir frequently and stop when the caramel takes a nice brown color and remove from the heat. Add immediately the lemon juice while stirring.

Place the ramekins into a oven pan or a lasagna plate, and add hot water in the pan (the flan will be baked into a bain-marie).

Back to the flans: Gradually pour the hot milk into the fresh eggs. Do not stop stirring energically to avoid your eggs get cooked. When finish you should see some bubbles on the top of the preparation.

Add the caramel into the ramekin first. And then add the Flan preparation.

Put into the preheated oven and bake for about 30 mins. Check the flans are cooked with the blade of a knife, which should be dry.

Let cool down and enjoy !!!

Variant:
- chocolate flans: add cocoa powder or dark chocolate into the warm milk
- cinamon flans: add 2 cinamon sticks into the milk (when still cold)

Eggs-cauliflower en cocotte

Today, I want to propose a new recipe of mine. This is a very easy and fast recipe that will wow your guests as an entry or a main. But where would this idea come from? I have no idea at all!
This recipe is an original way to propose cauliflower.
Originally from Asia, the cauliflower is mostly produced in China, India, France, Italy and USA. Usually white, it can be purple or orange (see here).

My recipe also uses a white sauce that is very common in French cuisine.

Ingredients (2 servings)

For the white sauce:

500ml of milk

40g of butter

40g of flour

Method: 

Melt the butter in a hot pot and then mix with flour. Out of the heat, gradually pour the milk and do not stop stirring to avoid lumps. Put it back on the medium heat. Do not stop stirring until you get a nice and smooth texture. When ready, add pepper, salt and nutmeg, a pinch each.

For the eggs en cocotte:

half a cauliflower

500ml white sauce

1 generous tsp tomato paste

1/2 cup of fresh cream

shredded gruyere or any other cheese you like

2 eggs

salt, pepper, parsley

2 toasts

• Steam the cauliflower for about 15 minutes. It is important that the cauliflower is just slightly undercooked after this stage (as it will finish cooking in the oven).
• Drain the caulifower and place half of the cauliflower in each cocotte (or ramekin or bowl, just use any dish that goes into the oven).
• Add 1 tsp of tomato paste into the white sauce and spoon the "rosy" white  sauce over the cauliflower.
• Mix the cream with salt, pepper and parsley
• Then spoon the cream over the rosy white sauce (1/4 cup in each dish, just make sure a slight layer of cream cover the white sauce).
• Break an egg without breaking the yolk and put it down in the dish (one egg in each dish or 2 if very hungry)
• Salt and pepper (just a little bit)
• Add the shredded cheese on the top, but avoid to cover the yolk.
• Bake in the oven for 7 minutes. Be careful, the yolk must still be raw.

Serve with toasts.

Click Here for more nice recipes!