Carrot, Puy Lentil and Parsley Flan

This is not a super healthy green salad, but I think it may be the healthiest of flans I've ever made, if not it sure looks the part.

The carrots almost look like orange ribbons and the puy lentils like bronze sequins enhanced by the flecks of green from the parsley.  The carrots were soft and sweet and the lentils gave it that bite and nutty flavour. All in all it was a very light flan to eat.   Serve this flan simply with some new potatoes.  The recipe still needs a bit of tweaking, so you may have some of the carrot-lentil filling left over.  Don't ditch it, its good cold as a sandwich filler or stirred into sliced cabbage to make a slaw of sorts.

I am submitting a slice of this light flan recipe to My Legume Love Affair # 37. MLLA was founded by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook who is also hosting Julys edition of MLLA; as well as to Priya and Kaarasaaram who is hosting this months Veggie/Fruit of the month which is the humble 'carrot'. 
Updated 26/07/2011: This recipe was made by Sue at Our New Life in the Country, please do go by and visit her blog.

Carrot, Puy Lentils and Parsley Flan
Serves 6 - 8 as an accompaniment
Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry to line a 8 - 9 inch round tin
225g plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
125g butter
3 tablespoons water
Method
Add flour and salt to a bowl. Add the butter then rub it into the flour with your fingertips, lifting the mixture out of the bowl to incorporate as much air as possible as this will make the pastry light. Continue until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs, then add the water a little at a time and use your fingertips to press the mixture together and form a dough. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead rolling out the dough, into whatever shape you want – a round, oval or rectangle. Blind bake in a hot oven at gas mark 6 for 20 minutes.
Ingredients for the filling
160g puy lentils (or brown lentils)
350g carrots, grated
small handful of parsley leaves, minced
3 eggs
150ml milk
1 generous tablespoon of grain mustard or to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Method for the filling

Boil the puy lentils in water until tender, then drain.  Stir in the carrots and parsley.
Spread evenly over the pastry.
In a small bowl whisk the eggs, milk and mustard.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Then evenly pour over the carrot-lentil mixture.

Bake in oven at gas mark for 5 for 30 - 35 minutes.

This is good at room temperature or cold.