Winter Vegetable Flan

17/11/2023

The winter vegetable flan is a tasty and healthy Italian dish. It’s a perfect comfort food for cold winter days. Here’s how to prepare it.

Ingredients

500 g of assorted winter vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, pumpkin, etc.)
2 eggs
100 g of grated cheese (Parmesan or pecorino)
50 g of breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons of milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Nutmeg to taste
Butter for greasing the baking dish
Breadcrumbs for the baking dish

Preparation

Start by cleaning all the vegetables and cutting them into uniform pieces if necessary.
Cook the vegetables in a pot of lightly salted boiling water or steam them until they are soft yet still compact.
Once ready, drain them well and let them cool down.
Take a food processor and blend the vegetables to obtain a homogeneous mixture. If you prefer a more rustic texture, you can mash the vegetables with a fork or a potato masher.
In a bowl, beat the eggs with salt, pepper, and a grating of nutmeg.
Add the blended vegetable mixture, grated cheese, breadcrumbs, and mix well to combine all the ingredients. If the mixture seems too thick, you can add a couple of tablespoons of milk.
Grease a baking dish with some butter and sprinkle it with breadcrumbs.
Pour the vegetable mixture into the dish and level it with a spatula.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for about 30-40 minutes, or until the surface becomes golden and crispy.
Let the flan cool for a few minutes before serving.

As with every traditional Italian dish, the winter vegetable flan can be personalized too. For instance, you could enhance it with fried sage leaves in oil or season with fresh rosemary to create an even more aromatic variation. Remember that you could also make a “caprese” version by adding tomato and mozzarella between the layers.

Curiosity

The flan is an excellent solution for getting children to eat vegetables or to use up those that are left over in the fridge, and it is a perfect way to experiment with different flavor combinations and textures.