Sunday 14 November 2010

The Daring Cooks' Challenges No. 1, Nov 2010 - Souffle.



Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

See Dave's and Linda's post from the challenge for loads of useful information and tips about making souffles.

This was my first challenge with The Daring Cooks so I was really excited about it.  I have made souffles before.  I used to make chocolate souffles as a student and I am sure I have made a twice baked camembert souffle from a recipe torn out of a magazine at some point.  It has been some years, though, since I have made one so I was very pleased to be challenged to try again.

While browsing in my local library, I found a book completely dedicated to souffle ("Souffle, sweet and savoury" by Sara Lewis) so had to get it out.


I chose her recipe for stilton souffle with rocket.  It had to be cheese!

Recipe - 
Serves 4.

Ingredients - 
65g (2.5oz) butter
3 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
50g (2oz) plain flour
300ml (1/2 pint) milk
150g (5oz) stilton cheese, rind removed, crumbled
4 eggs, separated
25g (1oz) wild rocket leaves, torn into pieces, plus extra to serve
salt and freshly ground black pepper
balsamic vinegar, to serve

Method - 
1. Grease a medium tall 15cm (6in) diameter X 9cm (3.75in) deep souffle dish with some butter, then line the dish with the breadcrumbs.  Attach a souffle collar that stands 7.5cm (3in) higher than the top of the dish.


2. Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan,stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.  Gradually mix in the milk and bring to the boil, stirring until thickened and smooth.


3. Stir in the cheese until melted, then remove from the heat and stir in the egg yolks and some salt and pepper.  Cover and leave to cool.


4. Whisk the egg whites into stiff, moist-looking peaks.  Fold the rocket leaves into the cooled sauce, then a large spoonful of egg whites to loosen the mixture.  Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.


5.  Pour the mixture into the prepared souffle dish and bake in a preheated oven, 190C, 375F, GM5, for 30-35 minutes until the souffle is well risen, the top is browned and there is a slight wobble to the centre.


6. Quickly snip the string off the souffle collar and gently peel away the paper.  Spoon the souffle on to plates.  Serve with extra rocket leaves dressed with balsamic vinegar.



The souffle tasted a lot better than in looks in that photo above.  Really cheesy!  Serving it with rocket and balsamic vinegar was the perfect contrast to the cheesy, eggy souffle.  Even my kids ate it!  Yay.



If you are really interested in making souffles, I would recommend having a look at fellow Daring Cook, Audax's post from this challenge.  He has done a lot of research and gives loads of tips and ideas for different sweet and savoury souffles.

11 comments:

  1. I really like how your collar seemed to help the risen sides brown as well. Excellent job on your first Daring Cooks challenge.

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  2. Oh my goodness, your souffle looks so lovely. I adore how tall and brown it is! Great pics of your kids too - they do look pretty delighted by that souffle! :)

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  3. How cool!! There exists and entire cookbook dedicated to souffles?! I must get a copy right now! Your souffles look gorgeous, by the way. You're making me very hungry. :D

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  4. Fantasic souffle, has inspired me to have a go sometime soon - it's something I have never tried. I like the idea of individual souffles rather than one big one - would make it nicer for serving!

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  5. Climbhighak - thanks for the encouragement. Can't wait for the next challenge! In fact I'm hoping for a challenge sometime to smoke your own fish after seeing the pictures of your halibut - mmmmm.

    Joe and Stacy - Thank you. Yes, the kids ate it all up even with the smelly cheese. Always delighted with a recipe that goes down well with the wee ones!

    Koci - The library is great for finding all manner of cookbooks. I can try them out for no cost - fantastic.

    WWandS - I agree - the individual ones would probably look a lot better for serving. The big one is impressive coming out of the oven but it does look just a bit like gloop when dished out onto the plate! :)

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  6. That is a seriously impressive souffle, but it is far more impressive that your boys ate it - that is a true measure of greatness :)

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  7. Welcome to the Daring cooks! Your first dish is certainly fantastic - I love the sound of stilton and rocket! Yum! Great job!

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  8. Haha... just look at your two adorable little ones! They're having so much fun. lol. Gosh, your souffle looks gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing and hope you're having a wonderful day.
    Cheers, Kristy

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  9. Did the kids really eat it? It must have been double excellent then. Well done!

    Stay JOLLY!
    D&S

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  10. Kath, and David and Stacy - yes the kids did eat it all up. They love eggs and cheese so I shouldn't have been so surprised. I get so disappointed when they don't eat something I make for them so a thumbs up means the recipe will be a keeper.

    Dave and Linda - Thanks! I loved the challenge so you've got me hooked!

    Kristy - Thank you.

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  11. That souffle looks divine - perfectly risen!

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