Gary Rhodes' Gruyère cheese flan

This is a recipe from the spiky-haired celebrity chef Gary Rhodes' cookery book "Rhodes Around Britain" that I brought M many years ago.

I recently picked it up again and have been looking through for some good recipes.   This one look particularly appealing as it features the delicious Swiss cheese Gruyère.  It is so good that I have, on more than one occasion, bought a slab at great personal expense intending to cook with it, only to eat it on the way home.  This lack of self restraint is evident in the photograph, where my bite marks are slightly visible on the slice on the right.  Anyway, the recipe:

Gary Rhodes' Gruyère Cheese Flan

2 large onions, sliced

40g unsalted butter

1 ½ tablespoons oil

2 organic free-range eggs

1 organic free-range egg yolk

150g double creame

100g Gruyère cheese

Cayenne pepper (optional)

175g puff or short crust pastry

salt and fresh ground pepper

Cook the sliced onions in a tablespoon of butter and ½ tablespoon of oil until soft and transparent.  Leave to cool.

Beat the eggs and egg yolks together, add the cream and leave to one side.  Melt the remaining butter and oil together until blended and also leave to cool.

Mix the grated cheese with the eggs and cream and fold in the onions and the cool butter and oil mixture.  Season with salt, pepper and cayenne if using. 

Roll out the pastry and use to line the flan tin.  Line the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans.  Bake blind for 15-20 mins at 180 degrees.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150-160 degrees.  Pour filling mixture into the pastry base and cook in the oven for 45 mins until the flan is just set.  The tart should colour during cooking, but if it starts to over-colour, lightly cover with tin foil.  Leave for 20-30 mins before serving.

Once I have tried this recipe I will probably amend it slightly and add some photos, but I just thought I'd jot it down so as not to forget to try it.