I was very nervous when I read the Daring Cooks‘ challenge for this month – soufflé. Now, whilst I have enjoyed a few soufflés in my time, I have never actually made one so I was excited to try. Since this is the Cooks and not the Bakers, I wanted to try a savoury one, since, really, less sweets around our house can only be a good thing…
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.
I settled on a Goat’s Cheese Soufflé I found in Bon Appétit from October 1999. What really appealed to me was the fact that it could be twice baked, meaning that if it was a disaster and didn’t rise, I could always just bake it twice and pretend it was meant to be like that. The think I was most nervous about was the difficulty I would probably have photographing them since I knew they had to move from the warm kitchen to the cold front porch (for the light) and that I would have to move fast before they fell. They definitely rose, not to extreme heights like you see on some soufflés but there was some respectable height there. Well, until they were on the front porch…
The soufflés can be baked once and served immediately in their own dishes, or they can be made ahead, unmolded and baked again before serving, making them ideal for entertaining. Cucina—in London, England—sets the twice-baked soufflés on a bed of mixed greens tossed with a light vinaigrette.
Yield: Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (about) dry white breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2/3 cup whole milk
5 ounces soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet), very coarsely crumbled (I only used half the specified amount and this was perfectly adequate)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 large egg yolks
4 large egg whites
Method
Preheat oven to 350°F. Rub inside of six 3/4-cup soufflé dishes or ramekins with 2 tablespoons butter. Coat with breadcrumbs; tap out excess. Set aside.
Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in milk. Increase heat to medium. Simmer mixture until very thick, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Add half of goat cheese and whisk until melted and smooth. Mix in salt and pepper. Whisk egg yolks in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot soufflé base. Cool 5 minutes.
Beat whites in large bowl until stiff but not dry. Mix 1/4 of whites into soufflé base to lighten. Fold in remaining whites. Fold in remaining goat cheese.
Divide mixture among prepared soufflé dishes. Place in 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Add enough hot water to pan to come halfway up sides of dishes.
Bake soufflés until puffed and golden brown on top and softly set in center, about 20 minutes. Serve soufflés immediately in their dishes.
Or for twice-baked version, cool soufflés in dishes in water for 5 minutes. Remove soufflés from water. Run small sharp knife around sides of dishes to loosen soufflés. Turn out onto buttered baking sheet. Refrigerate up to 4 hours. Before serving, rewarm soufflés on same sheet in 350°F oven until heated through, about 10 minutes.
I actually only made three of these and the recipe halved pretty easily. Neil and I each had one for an impromptu brunch…
Cleo enjoyed helping us clean the dishes…
And I twice baked the third one later on for a light dinner…
This tasted like a giant old cheese puff with gooey cheesy goodness inside. Perfect on a bed of salad greens.
On the whole, I was fairly pleased with these soufflés and would definitely attempt them (and a chocolate one!) again. Way less scary than I thought. I *do* need to work on the height and rise factor, I know, but I think they are pretty anyway. And Neil was certainly pleased when I told him if he would help me expedite them to the porch for their photo session that he would be rewarded with one. Maybe we weren’t quite quick enough to capture their full height but at the end of the day, they were presentable and tasted amazing.
Thanks Dave and Linda for a great challenge – thoroughly enjoyable and demystified the soufflé a little for me!
* Did you see my World on a Plate, Destination: Umbria video? I would love your vote to move on to Round 8 of Project Food Blog where we have to bake with pumpkin. I have some pretty fun ideas… Voting open 6AM Pacific Time on Monday, November 15th until 6PM Pacific Time on Thursday November 18th. Simply click here (note: link no longer live) to read the post and vote. Many thanks for your continued support.
** Did you know? Jamie Oliver is speaking in Toronto on November 18th. Thanks to The Art of Cooking, I am able to offer a discount to you, my readers, of $10 per ticket (more if you purchase more than 5 tickets). Click here for the special promotion code to be applied to your ticket price. Don’t miss this event – I saw Jamie speak last year and it was inspirational to say the least. It inspired me to start Les Petits Chefs, for one…
AT least you attempted souffle! Cheese puff… what a great description
I know – if I saw that on a menu, I would order it!
Your souffle looks soooo delicious and beautiful! You did a wonderful job with the souffle. I love the picture of Cleo helping eat the souffle, too cute! After seeing your souffle, I just applied to be a daring cook. I’m a daring baker right now but I thought I might as well challenge myself too!
It’s definitely pushing me to my culinary limits sometimes…
Wow – it’s perfect! So fluffly!!
Nice! You’re broken your souffle fear — now, as you say, it’s on to chocolate! Theresa
Yes I really want to try a chocolate one….
Beautiful! I haven’t done much with the souffle… I contemplated a sweet potato souffle last week, but I wimped out and made soup instead. One day I will conquer it… Until then, I will drool over your photos!
It’s a scary thing to attempt but this gives me hope that I might crack the soufflé properly someday….
“This tasted like a giant old cheese puff with gooey cheesy goodness inside. ”
Okay, I’m sold! They look and sound fabulous. Your lucky cat! Mine tried to steal my sweet soufflé, but I don’t think she would have been as impressed. Great job & gorgeous photos.
I know, right? What could be better?
Ah…you’ve taken me back to pastry school where we made souffle after souffle. Your recipe looks and sounds great! Thanks for sharing.
Perhaps I need to go to pastry school and bake them over and over and over…
Your goat cheese souffles look just beautiful! We’re expecially fond of the twice-baked goat cheese version too – perfect for any meal!
Isn’t it just? 😉
Mmmm goat cheese is one of my favorites! I think, when I remake my souffle, I’ll be using it instead :). Mine also rose in the oven but after taking it out it deflated after a minute or two… As long as it tastes good though who really cares?
I couldn’t agree more!
Love the idea of a twice-baked soufflé! All my windows and doors were open to the outside in order to let in as much light as possible, so mine deflated rather quickly too with the cold outside air whirling around our dining area…
So annoying, huh?
Your souffle looks great! I’ll eat just about anything with cheese and this sounds fantastic!
I can relate to a deflated experiment too but it remains very delicious nonetheless. Love the cat pic eating the soufflé lol
Deliciousness overcomes deflated soufflés anyday in my book!
excellent recipe! 😀
They look beautiful! I can’t wait to give souffles a try once I get my ramekins. And of course it has to be goat cheese, because nothing can beat that. Thanks for sharing the recipe and I’ll be sure to bookmark it!
Yes it’s definitely one tasty recipe!
Wow, those look beautiful! Great job!!! I think I’ll give them a shot! 🙂
Oh these look so good, love that you can twice bake this recipe, so its on for me to whip some of these up for lunch today (Momma’s coming over for lunch). Just the thing. Great job Mardi
I love that they are so quick to whip up actually. It’s just the nerve wracking waiting to see if they rise…
Great job! I never would have thought that you could bake a souffle twice!
Me neither but I love that you can!
Your Souffle looks perfect! I’ve always wanted to try making souffle but been to scared to try. You are inspiring me to try it because yours look so mouthwatering.
Well I need to work on that height thing though…
I think your souffle looks gorgeous and I bet it was amazing with the goat cheese. I had a hard time with the pictures too, but didn’t mind eating the fallen souffles one bit!
🙂
Yes at least they tasted good, right?
I love cheese souffle! And these looks scrumptious. I like the twice baked idea. Thanks for daring and sharing.
You’re welcome. I am glad they were worth sharing!
Hi Mardi!!
The souffles look lovely and I know they had to be delicious!!! I completely understand about trying to photograph them before they fell – had a similar issue with Toad in the Hole!!!
Cleo is beautiful too.. lucky kitty!!
Cleo says thank you! And gosh they fall quickly, don’t they?
I am going to dare to make this following your recipe. If it falls, I’m going to eat it anyway. I just love eating souffles. Cheers!
The beauty of this one is that if it fails you can just twice bake it and pretend it was meant to be like that.
You did an awesome job of these, well done
Gooey cheesy goodness inside? Gooey GOAT cheesy goodness inside? Bliss. I wish I were Miss Cleo.
See I knew you this would appeal to you!
Gorgeous! I’ve wanted to tangle with a souffle for a while! This one sounds amazing!
It’s a good one to start with..
OMG only one word to describe your souffle… AMAZING! ok maybe two words.. INCREDIBLE! Oh wait.. maybe 3 words… DIVINE!!!!!! I agree with Conor, I wish I were Miss Cleo hehe.
All of us wish we were Miss Cleo….
Your *cheese puffs* souffles look great especially when pared with that salad! I can so understand the running back and forth to the cold front porch. I’ve been trekking plates of cookies from the diningroom to the back deck in the cold trying to get decent daylight shots! As in your cooking & baking skills, your photography skills are amazing as well.
Thanks Paula. Sometimes being a blogger is less about the actual cooking and baking and more about the trials and tribulations of getting a good shot!
I often wish I was Cleo…though of course we don’t normally *ever* let her on the table.
{ahem}
Your souffles turned out beautiful! Way to succeed on something new!
Well there’s definitely still room for improvement!
Ooooh, yum. Nice work!!!
Melty gooey goat cheese yum!! Can’t wait to try it myself!
Yes it was quite delicious!
Love the cat! I have two that love to clean up too. I’ve never made a souffle before, but you’ve inspired me to give it a try!
Cheers Kristi! – you should give it a go, it’s not so bad…