Fruit Fly Flan

This hardly seems worthy of a blog, but after all, it is summer.

After our invited guests left for various ferries on Monday, we were left with our uninvited guests: the dreaded seasonal fruit flies.

So, what’s a gal to do? I checked out the fruit which was mostly still sound, cut up the good bits, and came up with what I will forever now call a Fruit Fly Flan. Since no fruit flies were harmed in making of this flan, it is even vegan-friendly.  Even better - it was also the essence of simplicity to prepare.

This is all I did: I rolled out one pie’s worth of pastry and placed it in a pie plate. Then, I laid down a tranch of fruit and covered it with a very light dusting of flour and sugar. Then, I added another layer of fruit, more flour/sugar, and another layer of fruit, and so on. Bake at 375 F till done (about 45 minutes). Serve as is, or with yoghurt or whipped cream.

Stupidly simple. My kinda pie.

Summer Blogs

I will get back to blogging on weightier topics in a week or so, but hey – it’s summer, and yesterday, was so much fun, that I have to share it. My peak moment was when Vanessa showed up with bread she had baked to be served as part of our cohousing dinner that night. This was her first ever public baking. It was so good that one person even asked if she could give master classes.

L-R Angela, Vanessa, The Moi, Stacia.

As for The Sisters of Mercy, who cooked the rest of the meal for Cohousing that night, we also prepared and plated 36 servings of Salad Niçoise with corn on the cob & the aforementioned bread served as sides. Since we are rank amateurs - except for Stacia - I do feel comfortable bragging a bit about it. The three of us rocked – at least in my version of it all.

The Sisters of Mercy in the Coho kitchen.

Also worthy of note is that thanks to the availability of ample fresh produce, grown and harvested by the cohousing gardeners, we didn’t have to stint, and were able to include fresh tuna and anchovies without going over budget (NOTE: Smoked cheddar for the vegetarians). To top it off, we served Eileen’s Rhubarb Lunar Cake for dessert.

In spite of all of the above, it felt like heaven to be able to sit down after preparing this meal. It was so sweet that Ron had reserved seats for the three of us so we didn’t have to think about it. My sixty-six year old feet thank him. And as always, Angela and Stacia are amazing to cook with. Focused, fun, and indomitable. They always have my back, even when I make outlandish culinary choices, or – as is my wont - lose focus mid-way through the afternoon.

For those cohousers who were unable to join us, not to worry. A year from now, when we have forgotten how much work it was, we will likely do it again. Maybe I will even try baking our bread in my brother Struan’s new outdoor oven. His daughter has crafted the exterior so it looks like a dragon and the wood smoke comes out of its nostrils.

One more thing. I have a confession to make, even though Julia Child always advised: Never apologize. In a moment of distraction, I omitted adding the eggs to the cakes. In hindsight, this may have turned out to be a good thing since the result received rave results. As Louis Pasteur put it, chance favors the prepared mind. Let’s pretend for a moment that I possess a prepared mind.

Now, I realize that my discovery is not on a par with Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin. This came about when he didn't clean up his lab table before going on vacation one day in 1928. He returned to find that there was a strange fungus growing on some of his cultures. The next thing you know, we now all have penicillin. In my case, the discovery is a much more modest one.

My discovery is simply that I now know that I can probably adapt this recipe to a vegan friendly version.Baby steps. Always baby steps. At least for The Moi.