#FlanFridays: Pistachio Flan for Nut Lovers

 

Making flan is not necessarily a tricky adventure.

The key ingredient in making a perfect flan, which is a result of consistency, texture and caramel taste, is time.

Timing is of the essence when making flan, either in the traditional baño Maria or in the pressure cooker (my preferred method).

While I like to brag that I’m the Flan Queen, there were times in my early pro cooking career, where I messed up, all by  a margin of 2-4 minutes. Those additional minutes made my egg custard too stiff and not jiggly enough. That doesn’t help first time eaters. People not accustomed to eating it, already have a hard time with its texture, so I challenge myself every time to convert the non-lover into aficionados.

If a traditional flavored flan isn’t enough, my pantry doors open and I start scouring for additional ingredients I can add to kick it up a notch or two!

My last successful experiment included pistachios I received from Wonderful Pistachio (owned by POMWonderful). They have a full orchard of pistachio trees (which I was lucky enough to see in person last year) near Fresno, California. Fortunately, you don’t have to go nut picking to snatch some up. I’ve seen them at the grocery store, Costco and even Bed, Bath & Beyond.

I’ve always loved the green nut, especially in ice cream. So, it wasn’t a stretch for me to think and know that adding some green crunch would make this one a winner.

After a day of window shopping with my sister, whom had just arrived from D.C. for 4th of July festivities, I had no time to change before the photographer arrived; I went straight to the cocina to entice the onlookers!

While pulling out all the ingredients, I decided a splash of almond extract wouldn’t hurt, either, yielding an amazing an aromatic flan. So flavorful, I promise it will intrigue you to learn how to properly start and finish the timing challenge! Note, however, there are other variables that determine how long you cook your flan.

But, I’ll purposely reserve that for another flavored flan post.

Thanks to my cute friend Chieu, who came by to take action shots for you to see the process. I think to date, I’ve only shared the final product.

It turned into an impromptu lesson for her, and this is how it went.

A BEAUTIFUL flan, robust in caramel flavor, perfect in texture, with the added light crunch, aesthetically appealing in color and intoxicating aromas of the toasted pistachio and almond!

Ask Chieu! She enjoyed two flans, one week apart.

Are you a FLAN lover?