15. Flan Parisien

Silky and rich, perfect for those cold winter days.

Flan Parisien

Makes one 20cm flan, at least 4cm deep

For pastry:

175g plain flour

125g chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

10g sugar

1/2 tsp salt

60g water

For filling:
750g milk
250g cream (35%)
200g sugar
100g egg yolks (about 6)
100g cornflour
1tbsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla pod

Start by making the pastry. Mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Rub in your chilled butter until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Add in your water a tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together and there are no more dry bits. Wrap in cling film and chill for an hour.

Make your filling by warming the cream and milk in a saucepan over a medium heat. Split your vanilla pod in half and scrape the seeds. Whisk together with your sugar, egg yolks, cornflour and vanilla extract to form a paste. Slowly add your hot milk/cream to your eggy paste and whisk. Return to a clean saucepan and cook over a medium heat whisking constantly for about 10 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Don't worry if you get any lumps, you can always strain your filling. Place the mixture into a clean bowl, cling film the surface directly to prevent a skin from forming and chill until completely cooled (about an hour).

Roll the dough out to 2mm in thickness. Line your deep pie dish prick the base with a fork and chill for a further 30 minutes or until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 170ºC. Give your pastry cream a quick whisk to smooth it out, pour into your chilled pastry, and trim your pastry about 1cm above the filling line. Bake for 1 hour until the filling is set, golden and caramelised on top. Allow to cool completely before cutting.