Roasted Red Pepper & Spinach Vegan Flan

I was given this recipe by a client when I had my beauty salon.  
I’m not sure where she got it from. It’s a few simple ingredients combined to make a delicious, healthy flan.

Despite it being vegan, it’s so tasty and gets a thumbs up from even the biggest of meat-eaters.

If you want to go gluten-free, just use gluten-free oats and tamari sauce.
And if you aren’t keen on peppers and onion, roasted butternut squash is a great alternative.


  • What You Will Need:
  • Baking/roasting tray
  • Food processor – not necessary but the best option
  • 12-inch flan tin, lightly oiled – I like extra virgin olive oil
  • Rolling pin or you can use a wine bottle
  • Ingredients:
  • Pastry – Dry Ingredients
  • 250g gluten-free plain flour – I use Dove’s
  • 100g oats
  • 25g ground almonds
  • 25g sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • Pastry – Wet Ingredients
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 2 ½ tbsp olive oil
  • Vegetable Filling
  • 1 red onion – peeled and chopped
  • 3 red peppers – deseeded and thinly sliced
  • Sauce Filling – Dry Ingredients
  • 200g cashew nuts (or any nut or mixed nuts)
  • 250g spinach
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • ½ tsp paprika
  • ¼ nutmeg (freshly ground if you can)
  • Sauce Filling – Wet Ingredients
  • 340ml soya milk (or milk alternative)
  • 20ml olive oil
  • 3 tsp cider vinegar

Method

  1. Heat oven to 190* degrees.
  2. Roast onions and peppers in a drizzle of olive oil for 30 minutes on a baking tray.
  3. Combine dry pastry ingredients, ideally in a food processor, until fine
  4. Add wet pastry ingredients and a few drops of water to form a soft pastry mix. Place to the side.
  5. Grind the nuts and spinach, until course.  It’s better to leave the nuts and spinach roughly chopped for texture.
  6. Add wet sauce ingredients to the mixture.
  7. Roll pastry on a floured surface and layout on the greased flan tin, gently pressing into the corners and edges. Remove any excess pastry with a sharp knife. Use excess to decorate the flan at the end or make another mini flan (see picture below. Just steal a little extra sauce and veg for the filling).
  8. Add roasted onion and peppers then pour over sauce filing.
  9. Bake for 25 minutes.
  10. Let the flan rest for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven. This allows any excess moisture to evaporate, which sets the better and making it easier to cut without it collapsing.

Tip:
To get the flan out of the tin, place a bowl upside down on your work surface and put the flan tin on top.  The base will separate from the edge of the tin.  This makes it easier to slide the flan onto a plate without performing a circus act.

Serve with a crunchy walnut coleslaw or fresh salad.

This tastes great hot and cold.
Store it on the fridge and it will last around 3 days.


P.S. For those kitchen geeks out there, here’s what kitchen equipment I use:

Magimix CS 5200 XL PREMIUM to grind the nuts and spinach, and combine the sauce ingredients.
It has a 5 year guarantee on parts and a 35 year guarantee on the motor!

Le Cresset 20cm Chef’s Knife
This knife is incredibly sharp – It’s the only kitchen knife I own.

Top Gourmet Cutting & Chopping Board
Made of an environmentally friendly natural wood fibre composite laminate that doesn’t blunt my knife and is temperature resistant to 350* degrees.

Le Cresset Baking Tray for roasting onion and peppers
Non-Stick and comes with a lifetime guarantee!

Le Cresset 12 Inch Flan Tin
Non-Stick and comes with a lifetime guarantee!