The Christmas festivities are accompanied with lots of rich food so the moment comes to take a pause and adopt a lighter diet, at least until New Year’s Eve. What better solution than a light lunch that is quick to make and tasty, sure to please everyone in the family? A vegetable flan featuring courgettes is an ideal recipe, but you can use other vegetables too, such as cauliflower or potatoes.

Courgettes team up perfectly with the delicate flavour of cooked ham and the sweetness of mozzarella, as well as being highly digestible. On sale, you can also find pre-grilled courgettes which will enable you to rustle up this vegetable flan in no time at all, just right when you start to feel peckish. 

The Recipe:

Start by preparing the mozzarella which has to be sliced or diced and left in a strainer to drain off as much liquid as possible. In the meantime, clean and trim the courgettes before slicing them into rounds or lengthwise into fine slices. You can use a mandolin slicer or a potato peeler for this job. Then grill the courgettes on a well heated non-stick pan or, if you want to save time, you can pop them in the oven under the grill for a couple of minutes. When the courgettes are grilled, add salt.

Pre-heat the oven to 180° and, in the meantime, cut the ham into strips. Grease an oven dish with oil, throw in a fistful of parmesan and spread it around on the bottom and sides of the dish. Then arrange the first layer of courgettes, followed by the mozzarella, ham and a sprinkling of parmesan. Season with freshly ground pepper, a couple of basil leaves and a pinch of salt. Continue until all of the ingredients are used up. Sprinkle parmesan or breadcrumbs on the top layer to ensure that the flan browns well. 

Cook for 20 minutes until the flan is golden brown.