strawb banana flan

That looks lovely,Fran..I love Strawberries..a reminder of summer to come :o)

it was lovely - and didn't last ery long. I bought the flan case, easier than making my own, but it was a bit hard, maybe I should have used it the same day I bought it, ratehr than a couple of days later.

Got four strawberry plants, (parent and three kids); got flowers on mum, so if hte birds leave 'em alone, it won't be long before I can harvest my own. Mind you, I'd probably have enough fruit for a much smaller flan!

I buy those flan cases too,Fran..quick and easy..a smaller one would probably be better for you,but it sounds as though you made short work of it anyway :o)
I keep thinking I'll grow some strawberries.Could you put some small canes around them,with some netting over,to keep the birds off? It would be a shame to let the birds enjoy them instead of you ...

I have tried baking my own flan case - first one came out all humps and bumpd, then I found out about baking beans, and tried again. prob: I put them directly on to the pastry, and trying to get them out made the pastry fall out and break. Next time I try I'll put a lining in first - lol nothing like learn from your own mistakes!

the larger strawberry plant has started to show flowers, which is promising; think I've got some net, certainly got plenty of canes, so I'll see what I can rig up.

Can't really blame the birds - they don't understand the concept of "mine" and "yours"!

Lol,Fran..it's all trial and error,this baking lark..I keep some old dried peas I use if I make one,which is very rare these days..I usually buy one ..if you make another,when it is ready,and you have removed the lining and beans,pop the pastry base back in the oven for a few minutes,and it will help to dry it out a bit,no more soggy bottom :o)...also,if any fruit you want to use for a filling,has a lot of liquid content ,try sprinkling a bit of cornflour,on the base first,as it will thicken the juice..soggy bottoms aren't nice,are they?.:o)

thanks, Bloomer! good tips. What I did with my previous, and with this, was to put a layer of strawberry jam on the base, to help insulate the pastry from any excess juice or jelly soaking in - didn't quite have enough jam for a full spread this time (we'd had some on toast for brunch), but I waited until the jelly was less liquid before dribbling it on.

Yes,jam is good too..,have you tried the quick set jel in sachets,? I think there are different flavours..great for an almost instant result ..Half a sachet would be plenty for your size Fran..just halve the contents,and keep the other half for another time..:o)

my local small Sainsbury only does strawberry jelly in sachets, so I've not had much choice. My prob is trying to trying to work out how much half a sachet is: with block jelly, you can just count the cubes (i did work out how much water per cube, so i coudl use as many or as few as I wanted).

As well as the flan, I had enough jelly left over to fill four small moulds. I'd rather only use what I wanted, but how to divide the sachet? I'm pretty sure that my scales won't weight that delicately, or that my eyes won't see that fine a division

You have a point there,Fran..I did manage ,of a sorts,but it's so light to even register on the scales..My eyesight isn't good either..more guess work really..

think I'll get a stock of cube jelly next time I go to the larger Sainsbury at the retail park - then I can just take as many cubes as required.