A delicious french custard tart, also called a flan, it is a very simple to make and also gluten-free and less rich because without dough. This recipe will explain French Chef Christophe Michalak's recipe. Some will say that it is a scandal to make a vanilla pastry flan without dough. I can however guarantee you that the taste is there! You will still find the delicious and subtle taste of vanilla without it being too sweet. It's like biting into a flan, minus the dough.
Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan and heat over medium heat
Meanwhile, split the vanilla pod in two, scrape out the seeds using the tip of a knife and add the vanilla to the milk. At the first simmer, turn off the heat and let the vanilla infuse in the milk for at least half an hour.
Prepare the preparations
Break the eggs into a bowl, add the sugar and whisk well until the mixture turns white and increases in volume (with a whisk or in a food processor). Then add the cornstarch and mix.
Reheat the vanilla milk.
Pour the mixture into the hot milk and mix immediately. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
Cook the same way for pastry cream
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the mixture thickens. Stop as soon as the consistency is thick enough, as soon as you have a sort of broth that looks like a chimney.
Mix for a few minutes using a hand blender. This is optional but allows you to obtain a super creamy texture.
Bake in oven
Butter a mould, pour the vanilla pastry cream into it and set aside for 30 minutes before baking.
Heat the oven to 220°C / 430°F. Bake the pastry cream. After 5 minutes, reduce the heat to 180°C / 350°F, rotating heat and cook for another 35 minutes.
Rest before savouring
Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature then refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
Notes
For an 18 cm round mold The main preparation steps: infuse the vanilla into the milk and cream mixture. We mix eggs with sugar then cornstarch to which we add the hot vanilla dairy product. We thicken it in the pan like when we prepare a custard, we mix if necessary. Finally we bake in the oven. Be careful there are rest times. Make this dessert 4 hours before serving it because you have twice 30 minutes of rest during preparation (infusing the vanilla and before putting it in the oven) and 2 hours after cooking.