Kipper flan

I suppose this is really kipper quiche, but that just sounds too odd. I found this recipe in Delia's Frugal Food - and as I had a couple of kippers hanging about in the freezer, thought we'd try it out. It's nice hot (the kipper bones must be more flexible), but a bit on the bony side when cold.

It's definitely one of those recipes that you wouldn't necessarily go out and buy the ingredients specially to make, but is worth a go.

Makes enough for 4. You'll need:

250g kipper fillets
shortcrust pastry - enough for a 20cm diameter tin (about 8oz flour usually does the trick)
a little lemon juice
2 large eggs (I used 3 small ones)
about 250ml milk
1/4 teaspoon Colman's powdered mustard
salt and pepper

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C, and fish out a flan dish (the ones with the removable bottoms are the best).

First of all, grill your kippers for a couple of minutes on each side - sling them on a rack under your grill as they are. In the meantime, line the flan dish with your pastry.

If you've got lots of time, you could bake the pastry case blind - prick the pastry all over with a fork, place some greaseproof paper over the top, and weigh it down with baking beans or rice. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so. If you haven't got time for all that malarkey, you can miss it out - you'll have a slighly soggier bottom to the flan, but it'll still be extremely edible.

Skin the kippers, and try to extract as many of the irritating little bones as possible. Flake, and tip onto your pastry base. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top.

Beat together your milk, eggs and mustard, and pour into the flan. Season with lots of black pepper.

Place the flan dish on a baking sheet (in case of escaping mixture - it's a right pain to get off the bottom of your oven), and sling in the oven for 30-40 minutes. The filling should be golden brown, and puffed up.

Eat warm, with a green salad.