Caramenl Flan

Thursday was my husbands birthday.  Since he just had minor surgery on his neck his face was swollen and he was having a hard time eating.  He loves Flan so I made this for him instead of cake.

Flan is easy to make and is delicious.  Basically it is just an egg custard, this one has a caramel sauce.

This can also be made into an almond flavored flan with the addition of almond extract.

Caramel Flan

Caramel

3/4C sugar

1/4 C water

Combine the water and sugar in a heavy sauce pan and cook over moderate heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.  Bring to a boil and boil brushing down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water.  Boil until syrup begins to turn golden.  Continue to boil until the caramel is golden.  Immediately pour into a baking dish.  Swirl the syrup around the baking dish until it coats half way up the sides. Let caramel harden.

 Custard

3C whole milk

1C heavy cream

1C sugar 

5 large eggs

5 large egg yolks

1/4tsp salt

11/2tsp vanilla (for almond flan add 1/2-3/4 tsp almond extract and 1/2 tsp vanilla)

Bring milk and cream to a simmer in a 2 quart sauce pan over moderate heat.

Mean while whisk the eggs, yolks, salt, and the sugar in a large bowl.  Add hot milk a little at a time whisking constantly(be sure to add the hot milk slowly so the eggs don't scramble), then add the vanilla extract.  Pour the custard through a fine mesh sieve into the baking pan. Cover the pan with a double layer of foil.

Put the pan into a larger baking pan and pour enough boiling water into the pan to reach half way up the side of the baking dish.  Bake until a knife inserted into the flan comes out clean, about 11/4 hours.

Remove the baking dish from the water bath, remove foil and cool completely.

Cover flan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hrs.  Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the custard.  Invert a platter over the pan and invert the flan onto the plate.

I use a pie plate or deep sided platter to catch all the caramel syrup.  Garnish with fresh fruit if desired.

SUNDAYS WITH MARLENA SPIELER

BRICK a L'OEUF~
Ahh Brik...hmm what can I say? It tastes good, it tastes great but it isn't for the faint of heart to try to make. I tackled this recipe because it presented such a challenge. I think in this throw down Brik won. Imagine working with a piece of Filo dough and a raw egg and trying to wrap it all up without the egg oozing out or breaking and running all over the place. Exactly. I may try this again since it was delicious but I don't know if it was worth the aggravation.

Here is a little background on Brik. These are pastries that are sold in the market places in Israel. Men balancing trays of Brik compete to sell the pastries to the crowds before the market place closes for the afternoon siesta.

BRIK A L'OEUF

1 onion finely chopped
2-3 tsp chopped cilantro or flat leaf parsley or a combination of the two
a pinch of fresh chopped chili (optional)
4 filo dough pastry sheets
4oz can tuna, well drained. Try to get the Albacore or the chunks of tuna in a jar-the regular canned tuna is too mushy, you want chunks.
4 eggs
vegetable oil for deep frying

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and have oil heated to 375 degrees
In a bowl combine the onions, cilantro or parsley and chili. Lay out a sheet of filo dough(make sure you keep the other sheets covered with a damp towel) and fold in half length wise. Put a quarter of the onion mixture in the corner and then add 1/4 of the tuna. Break an egg into a small bowl, then slide it onto the pastry with the onion mixture.

Quickly fold the pastry to form a triangle and keep folding (like you would fold a flag) to encase the egg completely. Carefully slide the folded pastry into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Remove the Brik from the oil and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the other 3 pastries. Bake the pastries for 5 minutes. Do not over cook, the egg yolk must be still runny. Serve immediately accompanied by hot sauce.

These are how they turned out except for the one.

*cooks note: #1 try not to let the egg break while folding, it runs out all over the place and if you fry it up it becomes like scrambled egg inside the pastry. I found that if you fold the dough into a triangle to mark it off then add the filling under the mark then you have the top triangle to flap over the filling to kind of hold in the egg. It is very difficult to fold it into a triangle so it might be easier to just fold it into a rectangular package. Either way, I found no easy way to keep the egg from oozing around and the filo from crumbling or tearing as I tried to fold it up. Working quickly I found was not an option as I wrestled with the egg. If you work too fast the egg breaks. I tried using a spatula to help me fold over the dough but with little success. I have no answer yet for that. I will try again one of these days to make Brik and maybe find a way to make it work, I guess it just takes a lot of practice.
To those of you who are brave and adventurous.. good luck.

Be sure to go to Cooking Schmooking Mel is making Lentil Soup and Sacramento Spice where Shankari is making a Chicken and Rice dish for their Sunday with Marlena.