Recipe - Wild Mushroom Flan With A Warm Spinach Salad

2 tablespoon Olive oil
1 pound Wild and exotic mushrooms;
stemmed, cleaned,
; and cut or sliced up
One half cup Minced onions
4 teaspoon Chopped garlic; divided
1 teaspoon Chopped thyme
1 teaspoon Chopped parsley
8 Eggs
1 qt Heavy cream
1 cup Grated ParmigianoReggiano
cheese
One fourth teaspoon Nutmeg
Salt; to taste
Freshlyground black pepper;
to taste
6 ounce Raw bacon; chopped
3 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
One half cup Julienne red onions
10 ounce Spinach (1 bag); cleaned,
stemmed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter twelve 4ounce ramekins. In
a saute pan, heat the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms and
saute for 2 minutes. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Add the
onions and tablespoon of garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Remove from the heat,
stir in the herbs and cool. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and cream
together. Stir in the cheese, nutmeg, and mushroom mixture. Spoon the
mushroom/cream mixture into the ramekins. Place the ramekins in a baking
pan and fill the pan with enough water to cover One half of the ramekins. Place
the pan in the oven and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until the flan is set.
In a saute pan, render the bacon until crispy, about 10 minutes. Turn the
crispy bacon and bacon fat into a mixing bowl. Whisk in the balsamic
vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Toss the spinach and red onions with
the vinaigrette. To serve, run a knife around each ramekin, invert each
flan onto a plate. Mound a small amount of the spinach salad in the center
of each flan. This recipe yields about 12