Mom’s flan with poached cherries

Extracted from Always Add Lemon by Danielle Alvarez (Hardie Grant, $50)

Photo: Benito Martin

This recipe comes from my mom it will always be a flavour of home that I cherish: simple ingredients, prepared with a bit of love and patience.

Serves 8–10

150 g caster sugar

1 x 375ml tin evaporated milk

1 x 355ml tin sweetened condensed milk

120 ml full-cream milk

2 eggs, plus 5 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Poached cherries

100g caster sugar

2 strips lemon peel

1 vanilla bean, split

400g sour or sweet fresh cherries

Preheat the oven to 150°C and boil a full kettle of water.

Melt the sugar in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat until it turns a dark amber colour. Use a wooden spoon to mix it once it starts caramelising to ensure that it all melts evenly. Immediately pour the caramel into the base of a non-stick loaf tin. Whisk together the remaining ingredients and a pinch of salt in a bowl, then pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve directly onto the caramel. Cover the tin with aluminium foil and place it inside a larger baking dish. Place the dish in the oven, then pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the loaf tin. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. At this point, check the texture: it should still be quite wobbly, but not liquid. If it is still liquid in the centre, continue cooking for another 15–20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the water bath. Once cooled, refrigerate, still covered, overnight.

To make the poached cherries, combine the sugar, lemon peel, vanilla bean, 200ml of water and a pinch of salt in a saucepan and bring to a simmer on the stove. Pit your cherries using a cherry pitter, or push them out using a metal straw.

Add the cherries to the pot and simmer until they are soft but not bursting, about 5 minutes. Set aside until ready to serve.

To unmould, cut around the sides of the custard and invert onto a flat plate. Cut slices and serve with or without the poached cherries.

Note

You can leave the cherries unpitted, just be sure to warn your guests.