Pudim Caseiro, the portuguese flan

I love Portugal, or more precisely, i love Lisbon. Since the first time i stepped foot on its ground, a few years ago, i just can't help but going back. Some places make you feel like you belong there, and that's what this city is to me, a "home" away from home.

The magnificiant light, the lovely people, the human scale of the city, its architecture, its culture, the new music scene... The reasons are endless to me, and are just my own, but i trully believe there's something for everyone in Lisbon. I could talk endlessly about it, and be sure there will be a lot of post in the future related to it.

I'm learning portuguese, and on request of my classemates, i'm trying a classical of the portuguese desserts: the pudim caseiro, the homemade pudding. Like every traditional dish, there's just as many version as there are families, here's what i gathered from books, internet and a portuguese friend.

Pudim Caseiro

Serves 10-12

150gr of Sugar
2-3 Tablespoons of Water
1 bowl of Eggs (that was about 10 Eggs for my bowl)
1 bowl of Sugar
1 bowl of Milk
The Zest of Half a Lemon
2 Tablespoon of Porto Wine

Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Start with the caramel. Put the 150gr sugar in a pan with the water, don't use any ustencil, just let it bubble away, maybe turn the pan around every now and then. Wait until it gets a light brown color, and pour it into the dish you'll use for the flan. Coat the bottom and side of the dish, but be really carefull it's very hot.

Whisk your eggs together, add the sugar and mix it in. Then pour the milk in, aswell as the Porto. Grate in the lemon zest, give it a last whip before pouring into your flan dish. Cover it with an aluminum foil, and place it in a bigger dish that has water in it. Now put both in the oven, it takes about an hour to be cooked, but check it with a toothpick, it needs to come out clean.

Let it cool a little and invert it on the serving dish. It's better served cold. Here you have a bit of Portugal in a plate :)