Rainbow Vegetable Flan

When I saw this recipe in the latest Asda magazine I knew I had to make it. This vegetarian dish dazzles with colours, textures and flavours :)


Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 175 g buckwheat flour
• 85 g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 1 egg yolk
• a pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 3 medium courgettes
• 2-3 large carrots
• 2-3 large parsnips
• 180 ml double cream
• 3 large eggs
• 70 g Cheddar cheese
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme, fresh or dried
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon melted ghee butter, for brushing

Preparation:

The crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Sift the buckwheat flour and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and use a mixer or food processor to combine the ingredients together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons very cold water and add to the flour mixture. Mix well until the dough comes together.
4. Lightly dust a work surface and rolling pin with flour. Roll out the pastry to make a 26 cm circle. Place it on a 20 cm flan tin lined with baking paper or greased with butter. Prick the base with a fork and chill for 15 minutes in a fridge.
5. Lay another sheet of baking paper in the pastry case and weigh it down with some dry rice/ beans or ceramic balls. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the paper and rice/ beans and bake for another 5 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes.

The filling:

1. Peel all the vegetables, then use a vegetable peeler to cut them into long, thin slices.
2. In a bowl, mix the cream, eggs, cheese, mustard, nutmeg and thyme together. Season with salt and pepper. Pour onto the crust.
3. Now, this part may be a bit tricky and you may ask someone to help you to hold the roll together. Take 3 slices of each vegetable and lay them on top of each other.  Roll into a tight spiral. Continue adding slices of veggies to the spiral.
4. When the spiral is about 6-7 cm in diameter, put it in the centre of the flan case, with the edges of the slices facing upwards.
5. Continue adding slices and when you reach the edge, fill any gaps with leftover slices.
6. Brush with melted ghee butter and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until golden.
7. Serve and enjoy :)

The recipe comes from Asda magazine, December 2014 and has been slightly modified.

I had quite many leftover vegetable slices and I used them to prepare tomato sauce on the following day.