2021 Giro d’Italia - Stage 1: Torino Time Trial
Bentornato! The 2021 Giro is underway, today. Unlike last year, when the race finished up in Northern Italy, that region is where this year’s race begins. I will be preparing a daily dish for each stage, like last year, which will be regionally specific to the day's race stage. According to the Giro’s website, vegetable flan is a dish typically enjoyed near Torino. I found a recipe online for an asparagus flan with cheese sauce which was a featured item at a restaurant, located inside of the now-shuttered Andrea Hotel.
The recipe I found is from Epicurious and is rated 3.5 out of 4 stars. I would not rate it as high. The recipe, as provided, needs a bit of work. Unfortunately, due to the daily nature of the Giro, I will not have time to completely finesse a recipe if the first go isn’t up to my standard. This is also a good time for me to re-state: not every recipe online is great. I typically only go to a handful of trusted sites. But, I needed some help with this one and it helped verify my skepticism.
That being said, the dish wasn’t horrible. It had good flavor, but the finished product was just not at the level I prefer. The problems were two-fold: the flan was a little watery, even when fully cooked, and the cheese sauce was too runny. These foibles can easily be fixed by taking the following, additional steps. After you steam the asparagus, let it cool slightly. Chop the asparagus stalks into thirds, place them in a kitchen towel, and squeeze some of the water out, prior to processing. For the cheese sauce, I would recommend heavy cream in lieu of milk and doubling the cheese. This sauce also may benefit by nixing the double-boiler method and making a roux in a pan and completing the sauce therein. Also, you will need to bake the flan longer than an hour if making one, large flan.
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