This Old School Dinners Cheese Flan or Quiche recipe is a vegan version of the much loved British school dinners cheese flan or cheese and onion flan. Our dairy-free cheese flan or Quiche is so easy to prepare and is packed with savoury cheesy flavours and has a light and buttery shortcrust base. Once chilled our vegan cheese flan can be easily sliced into pieces that would be great for picnic, parties, and buffet finger-food.
You can add finely diced vegan ham to our vegan cheese flan to create a delicious vegan cheese and ham Quiche otherwise known as a Quiche Lorraine.
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What is a British old school cheese flan?
A flan is an open pie, meaning it lacks a pastry top to cover the filling. A cheese flan is similar to a quiche, which is essentially a mixture of eggs, cheese, milk, and sometimes cream, all cooked within a pastry shell.
The term "British Old School Dinners" refers to the food provided in school canteens to children during the 60s, 70s, 80s, and sometimes the 90s. School dinners back then were more akin to home-cooked traditional meals and were all prepared in the school kitchen by dinner ladies. Nowadays, most school food is likely to have been precooked before arriving at the school.
Many people have fond memories of their school dinners and can usually recall at least one or two favourite meals or bakes, while others disliked them or can remember one or two of the least appealing offerings!
Those who experience nostalgia for school dinners often like to recreate their favourite school meals, and as taste buds change over the years, what you disliked back then might become a family favourite now!
Even if you were a meat, dairy, or egg eater back in your school days, you or a family member may now be enjoying a vegan or plant-based diet, so with vegan versions of old school dinner recipes you can recreate your favourites and perhaps discover new tasty recipes.
How to prepare
For this vegan cheese flan recipe, there is no need to pre-bake or blind bake the homemade pastry case, as it cooks together with the filling.
If preferred, and to save time, shop-bought shortcrust pastry can be used instead of preparing your own.
First prepare the pastry.
Step 1: Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl, along with the margarine broken into chunks.
Step 2: Using your finger-tips rub the fat into the flour until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.
Step 3: Add two tablespoons of water and stir this through with a cutlery knife.
Step 4: Add a little extra water and stir this through and then press the dough together into a ball.
Step 5: Wrap the dough in food wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling.
Step 1: Add the silken tofu, plant milk, nutritional yeast flakes, corn flour [corn starch], garlic powder, onion powder, salt, white pepper, and mustard powder, to a food processor or blender.
Step 2: Blend until everything is smoothly combined.
Assemble the flan.
Step 1: Place the pastry ball onto a well floured work surface and roll out to a flat piece bigger than your flan tin.
Step 2: Wrap the pastry around your rolling pin and lift it up and place into the flan tin.
Step 3: Press the pastry dough into the flan tin.
Step 4: Trim the ragged edges with a small knife.
Step 5: Pour the flan filling into the pastry.
Step 6: Optional: Sprinkle the flan with grated vegan cheese.
Step 7: Bake for 45-50 minutes until the flan has risen, is firm and set, and golden brown around the edges.
Step 8: Once baked leave the flan to sit for 10 minutes before removing from the flan tray.
Serving suggestions: Serve warm or chilled - once chilled the flan firms up more and is very easy to slice thinner pieces. Traditional accompaniments to cheese flan are potato chips or fries and baked beans. A nice crisp green salad is also a tasty side.
Recipe notes
Storage
Cheese flan will keep fresh for 3 days within the refrigerator. Or freeze for 2-3 months.
Reheating
To reheat, switch the cooker to the cooking temperature stated on the recipe, and warm the flan up until it's piping hot - about 25 minutes. If the flan looks like it may brown too much you can add a layer of kitchen foil.
Although, this cheese flan is absolutely delicious served chilled.
FAQ'S
Silken firm tofu is perfect for cheese flan as it blends really smoothly and bakes into a firm flan. The silken tofu used for this cheese flan recipe is Mori Nu Silken Firm Tofu [349grams]. Although any brand of silken firm tofu is perfect.
Silken firm tofu is different from ordinary fresh tofu found within the chilled section of stores, as silken tofu can not be sliced into firm pieces and cooked as it is so soft that it just breaks up.
Silken tofu is usually found within the Asian or world food sections of supermarkets and grocery stores. This kind of tofu is long-life and does not need to be kept within the refrigerator, unless it has been opened.
No, for this cheese flan recipe the pastry does not require pre-baking or 'blind' baking. The pastry will cook beautifully and will not have a soggy bottom! Instead the pastry will be deliciously light and buttery.
Of course, if you are short of time or prefer not to make your pastry by hand at home, then simply buy a store-bought already prepared shortcrust pastry.
There are even some packets of pastry that come already pre-rolled. Just make sure that the pastry is short crust and is suitable for vegans.
Many of the popular brands of pastry and supermarkets own versions, are accidently vegan even if they do not have the trademark vegan sign, so its always worth at look at the less expensive options.
Once chilled this vegan cheese flan or Quiche is perfect for packed lunches for school, college, or work, picnics, parties, buffets, and everyday quick and easy vegan lunches, dinners or tasty snacks.
More old-school dinner recipes - made vegan
For more of our school dinner favourites check out our jam and coconut sponge, chocolate traybake, mince and potatoes, and cheese, potato and onion pie.
Got some leftover unbaked pastry that needs using up? Bake a few of these traditional British Jam Tarts. Just pop them in the oven after the flan comes out. Or stick the jam tarts into the oven to bake, during the last 10 minutes of the flan cooking.
***please note: for US measurements click the 'US customary button' within the recipe and the measurements will switch to tablespoons, cups, and ounces.***
📖 Recipe
Vegan Old School Dinners Cheese Flan
Equipment
- 8-9 inch diameter flan tin or pie dish [loose bottomed baking tins are best]
- Rolling pin
- Food processer or blender
- cutlery knife
Ingredients
Pastry:
- 170 gram plain flour [all-purpose flour]
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 85 grams vegan margarine [we use Stork baking spread, use extra to grease flan dish]
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Filling:
- 5 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 349 grams silken firm tofu
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder [or garlic granules]
- 1 teaspoon onion powder [or onion granules]
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder [we used Colemans mustard powder]
- 1 pinch white pepper
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 300 mililitres soya milk [or your usual milk]
- 4 tablespoons corn flour [corn starch]
Garnish, optional:
- 50 gram vegan cheese [grated]
Instructions
Prepare the shortcrust pastry:
- Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl. Drop the margarine into the bowl in chunks. Use your fingertips to rub the fat into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs.170 gram plain flour, 1½ teaspoons baking powder, 85 grams vegan margarine, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Add two tablespoons of water and stir the liquid through the mix with a cutlery knife, keep stirring for a few minutes adding another tablespoon of water and mixing it through.Press the pastry firmly against the side of the bowl and it will squash together. Use your hands to press it into a ball, and add a few drops of extra water if the pastry if a little dry.
- Wrap the pastry in food wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Prepare the flan filling:
- Add the silken tofu, nutritional yeast flakes, milk, corn flour [corn starch], mustard powder, garlic and onion powders, salt and white pepper into a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.5 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes, 349 grams silken firm tofu, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon mustard powder, 1 pinch white pepper, ¾ teaspoon salt, 300 mililitres soya milk, 4 tablespoons corn flour
Assemble the flan:
- Preheat the oven to 180 Fan / 200C / Fahrenheit 392 / Gas 6.
- Grease the flan tin with extra margarine.
- Roll the pastry out on a floured work surface into a piece large enough to fit into the flan tin.Wrap one end of the pastry over the rolling pin and lift it up and place it into the flan tin. Press the pastry into the sides and base. Use a small knife to trim the edges.
- If the filling has sat for a while give it a good stir before pouring into the flan tin.
- If using the cheese sprinkle this over the top of the flan.50 gram vegan cheese
Bake the flan:
- Place the flan onto the middle oven shelf and bake for 15 minutes before turning the oven down to 170 Fan / 190C / Fahrenheit 374 / Gas 5.
- Bake for an extra 30-35 minutes until the flan has completely risen, firm and set, and has golden parts around the edges of the flan, the pastry will also be golden.[Fan ovens tend to bake quicker so check the flan a few minutes earlier around the 45 minute mark]
- Leave the flan within the tin for 10 minutes before carefully removing.
Notes
- Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not an exact calculation as ingredients can vary.
- Store leftover cheese flan within a covered container, in the refrigerator for 3 days.
- Or freeze for up to 2-3 months.
- Reheat within a hot oven until piping hot throughout.
- Grated vegan cheese is an optional addition. You can use extra nutritional yeast flakes instead.
- The cheese we used for this recipe was Asda garlic and chive cheese alternative.
- Stork baking spread was used for the pastry.
- Chilled cheese flan is perfect for pack lunches, picnics, buffets and quick lunches, dinners and snacks.
- Add some chopped vegan ham or cooked meat-free bacon to the cheese flan mixture after blending to prepare a vegan Quiche Lorraine.
Nutrition
Comments
Prepared our Vegan Cheese Flan or Quiche recipe? We would love to know how you got on with the recipe so do drop us a comment below and click the star ratings. All feedback is very much appreciated. Thanks so much! All the best, Jacq x
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