Recipe: Provencal Carrot and Spinach Flan

PROVENCAL CARROT AND SPINACH FLAN

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
8 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
1/2 tsp Szechuan pepper corns
1 cup cream
4 eggs
16 oz. spinach

You will need 8 aluminum foil muffin cups, separate, not in muffin tin.

Saute onion in the olive oil until golden brown, add the carrots and sugar. Cook for about 5 minutes stirring often until the sugar has dissolved.

Add salt and pepper, cover barely with water and boil until carrots are soft and water has boiled away. Set aside to cool until the spinach mixture is ready.

Saute the spinach in small batches in olive oil and remove to a holding bowl. Add more olive oil between batches. When the spinach is all done allow it to cool, then add half of the cream and two eggs and puree.

Combine the carrots with the remaining cream and two eggs and puree, keeping carrot mixture and spinach mixture separate.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously oil the foil cups with olive oil.

Fill each cup half-way with the spinach mixture first, then top with the carrot mixture. Place the foil cups in a shallow casserole dish and add about 1 inch of water to the casserole dish to create a water bath.

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes until done. Remove from oven, let cool slightly and serve by turning the flan out of the cups onto a plate as the vegetable course.