Potato and Chard Flan

The potato and chard flan is an elegant and nutritious dish, perfect as a side or as a vegetarian main course. Here’s how to prepare it:

Ingredients

• 600 g of potatoes
• 300 g of clean chard
• 100 g of grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• 100 ml of milk
• Nutmeg to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Butter to grease the baking dish
• Breadcrumbs as needed

Preparation

1. Start by boiling the potatoes in salted water until they are tender. Once ready, drain them, peel them, and mash them with a potato masher to obtain a puree.

2. Clean the chard by removing the hard parts, and boil it in salted water for about 5 minutes. Then, drain it, squeeze out the excess water, and chop it coarsely.

3. Take a large bowl and mix the potato puree, chopped chard, Parmesan cheese, eggs, a pinch of nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and mix well until you get a homogeneous mixture.

4. Gradually add the milk, continuing to stir, to make the mixture softer.

5. Take an ovenproof dish, grease it with butter, and sprinkle it with breadcrumbs. Pour the potato and chard mixture into the dish and level it with a spatula.

6. Sprinkle the surface with more breadcrumbs and a few flakes of butter.

7. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for about 30 minutes or until the surface of the flan is golden and crispy.

Once the flan is ready, let it cool for a few minutes before serving. This dish can be easily enriched with the addition of blue cheeses or speck to give a stronger flavor, or varied with different vegetables according to the season.

Fun Facts

The flan is a typical preparation of Italian cuisine that involves the use of eggs and cheese to bind together the ingredients and create a soft and delicate texture after baking in the oven. The word “flan” comes from the fact that, once cooked and cooled, it can be flipped and “unmolded” from the cooking container to be served.