Soufflés are really about catching the moment, so it I think it’s pretty apt to make a soufflé for Valentines day. Soufflés takes a bit a work, alot of love and a little bit of patience, but the moment you see a perfectly risen soufflé come out of the oven, it all seems worth while. Read on for more cheesiness…
I have just purchased a lot of cheese, and I mean a lot of cheese, as in a couple of kilos of different sweet and nutty alpine cheese from Savoie in France. So I really wanted to make a nice cheesy yummy tea. I looked at a few different recipes and decided to stick with the basics and add my own few little bits.
Here’s How:
- 1/2 oz. of butter (use to grease 6 small soufflé dishes)
- 1oz. of flour
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 1/2 pint of milk
- 4 oz. of cheese (I used comté, though you could use gruyère or appenzellar)
- 1 oz. of grated parmesan
- 4 egg yolks
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- teaspoon of good quality mustard (I used alpine ‘walnut’ mustard…if you ever see it, buy it!)
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- few twists of black pepper
- 5 egg whites
The first thing to do is grease your 6 soufflé ramekin dishes and line with grated parmesan. Place the ramekins on a baking tray and leave aside in a cool place or in the fridge. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Next melt the butter in a small saucepan, and add the flour to make a roux. Heat butter and flour mixture for 5 minutes (be careful not to brown). Add the milk bit by bit stirring between each addition to make sure you have a smooth lump free sauce. Take off the heat and add the cayenne, nutmeg, pepper and cheese. Taste the sauce and add as much salt as you think it needs. Stir in the egg yolks and leave aside.
Meanwhile whip the egg whites with an electric beater until it forms stiff peaks. You should be able to hold the bowl over your head without the egg white spilling out. Once you have whipped your egg whites, fold a few spoonful’s into your white sauce and egg mixture. I think people always get confused when they hear the word fold. The key thing is to use a slotted spoon. Put one or two spoonful’s in and in stir in gently with a figure of eight motion. Then add the remainder and stir gently in the same way. The important thing is not to mix it too much as you will loose all the air. Don’t worry if it looks like lumpy cream cheese, this means you have lots of air pockets and your soufflé will rise.
Pop the mixture into your prepared ramekin dishes. Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes. You will really have to call this yourself. They should be golden brown and well well risen when they are done. Sprinkle with some of the remainder of the freshly grated parmesan, Eat them as soon as they come out of the oven as they will flop rather spectacularly in seconds! However, for that 5 seconds they are really impressive and taste deliciously light and cheesy.
What worked?
It’s impressive and once you give yourself time, relatively straight forward to make.
They still taste great cold, and work really well with a nice green salad, as a scrummy tea.
Once you make one one soufflé, the world is your oyster. Once you have conquered the soufflé, you can make any other flavoured ones…… chocolate, berry, goats cheese…..The principle is always the same.