2022 Vuelta - Stage 21: Madrid.
This is it! Today wraps up the final week of La Vuelta and I limped across the finish line, figuratively and literally. This culinary ridealong was very similar to my first ever, a few years ago. While I have the benefit of all I’ve learned over the past 2 years, life has definitely returned to normal, and this one was a bit of a struggle to keep up with daily meals over the course of three weeks.
Luckily, though, we got to watch some of today’s race coverage over coffee and flan. It was bittersweet to see Alejandro Valverde lead out the peloton through the streets of Madrid, waving goodbye to his adoring fans in his final year of racing, and the girls loved the beautiful glimpses of downtown Madrid.
But, as I mentioned, I also kinda limped across the line with today’s dish. While I have a lovely piece of flan photographed, the girls let me know there were critical issues as I pulled the inverted bowl off of the serving platter with a painful “oooooh!” The flan had cracked and separated (le sigh). I am fairly certain this was due to the fact my initial coating of caramel didn’t quite cover the bottom of the casserole dish and I had to rewarm some dregs to coat the gaps of the already set caramel. So, I have adjusted the recipe accordingly, and you’ll get more syrupy caramel as a result! The flan itself is very tasty and smooth.
Flan adapted from The Food of Spain, Claudia Rosen
Caramel
¾ cup sugar
½ cup water
Flan
2.5 cups whole milk
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
Combine the caramel ingredients in a stainless steel saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Start swirling the pan occasionally until the caramel turns a deep amber. Pour the caramel into a 2.5 quart casserole dish while quickly rotating the casserole, allowing the caramel to fully coat the bottom before seizing-up.
Clean out the saucepan, to prepare the flan, and return it to the burner. Pour the milk, sugar, and vanilla in the pan and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Let cool for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Meanwhile, lightly scramble the eggs in a large bowl. Once the milk has cooled, pour a little into the eggs and whisk until combined. Then, slowly pour in the remaining warm milk and continue whisking. Then pour into the casserole dish on top of the cooled caramel.
Place the casserole dish into a larger roasting pan and pour boiling water in the roasting pan until it reaches halfway up the exterior of the flan casserole dish. Bake for about 90 minutes until the flan is set, but still a little jiggly in the center.
Remove the casserole from the water bath and allow it to cool for 2 hours. Cover with plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator for 6 hours, or up to 24 hours.
To serve, place the flan dish into a pan full of hot water for 2-3 minutes to melt the caramel. Run a sharp knife around the flan to release it from the casserole dish. Place a serving platter, upside down, over the casserole dish, then swiftly flip the casserole and serving dish, allowing the flan to fall onto the platter and caramel to coat the flan and platter. Slice and serve with additional caramel sauce.
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Copyright 2022, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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