My Grandma is a fabulous cook! Tonight she prepared an apricot fruit flan—one of my favourite dishes.
You may wonder why the Swiss eat something sweet like fruit flan for dinner. Well, in the German part of Switzerland, the main meal is lunch, whereas dinner is generally a smallish, light meal.
Fruit flan is a somewhat traditional dish in Switzerland. Grandma told me that both, her mother and her grandmother, baked fruit flans that were normally served for dinner.
Apricot fruit flan—yum!
Usually seasonal fruit is used to put in the flans. Even vegetables like rhubarb make a good ingredient. I’ve had fruit flans with apples, apricots, cherries, rhubarb, and damsons.
Fruit flans are really easy to prepare. Here’s how:
Grandma’s Fruit Flan
(serves three to four)
fruit
- apples: with large baking dish use 8 to 10 apples
- canned fruit: thoroughly drain
- apricots, damsons, plums (“wet fruit”): cover pastry base with ground hazelnuts or almonds
method
- roll out pastry and line baking dish
- prick pastry
- preheat stove to 200 °C
- arrange fruit on pastry
- bake on lower rung for 15 to 20 minutes or until the pastry crust turns slightly brown
- prepare egg mixture
- pinch of salt
- 120 grams sugar
- 1½ tablespoon flour
- 3 small or 2 large eggs
- mix until light yellow colour
- add 150 ml milk and blend
- pour egg mixture evenly over fruit
- turn off upper element or lower heat to 170 °C and bake for 15 to 20 minutes
- turn on upper element or turn oven back up to 200 °C and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes
Voilà mes amis! Bon appétit!
