Souffle Au Fromage

Little One caught a bug after New Year and was sick for 3 days. It was no fun for her and me. You would think with her being so sick, she would be calling out ‘mama’ all the time …. oh no no no, the first word Miss Cheeky cried out while being so sick in bed in the middle of the night was Babar (the elephant) – her favourite story character. Each time she woke up, it’s ‘Babar’ or ‘mama, Babar’ – meaning she wants to watch her favourite DVD Babar. Since then, it is always Babar, the first thing that is on her mind when she wakes up. I think we made a mistake when we introduced her to Babar.😛

Back to cooking, today I’m going to share with you a very nice recipe that involves lots of eggs and cheese.😁 A Soufflé is easy to whip up yet delicate to bake. It’s spectacular looking but must be eaten immediately after taken out of the oven or else it will crumble under its own weight. (and that would be a pity!)

Souffle Au Fromage

Michèle’s recipe

Serves: 4

Ingredients
  • 4 eggs
  • 100 g grated emmental cheese
  • 50 g butter
  • 40 g plain flour
  • ¼ litre milk
  • salt, pepper & ground nutmeg
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven at 190°C (375 °F).
  2. Melt the butter in a pot and stir in the flour.
  3. Cook it for 1 or 2 minutes before adding slowly the milk. Stir the mixture vigorously to dissolve it. Make sure that there is no lumps.
  4. Season it with salt, pepper and ground nutmeg.
  5. Bring it to boil and let it cook until the mixture becomes firm or thickens.
  6. Take it off the heat. Mix in rapidly the egg yolk one by one using an electric beater or by hand. Set it aside to let it cool.
  7. Beat the egg white until it is stiff. Delicately incorporate the grated cheese. Fold this into the mixture in the pot.
  8. Grease the soufflé mould with butter and sprinkle grated cheese on the base and sides of the mould.
  9. Pour the mixture into the mould. It should not fill up more than 2/3 of the mold.
  10. Once the mould is put into the oven, reduce the temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake it for 30 minutes. Do not be tempted to open the oven during baking. This will cause the soufflé to collapse.
  11. Serve it immediately in its mould or you can remove it from the mould and serve it on a plate.
The Verdict

It turns out very beautifully even when we removed it from the mould. For me, the taste is a bit like scrambled eggs with cheese. I simply love it. The texture is like soft bread that melts in your mouth. Little One who doesn’t like cheese nor eggs was tugging in her share mouthful after mouthful.

One warning though, this soufflé is more nourishing and filling than it looks. After a few mouthful, I was already full. Given the ingredient list, it’s not entirely surprising, eh? 😉

Notes

Soufflé goes very well with white wine like Bourgogne or Alsace. Other cheese than emmental should work, it might be interesting to experiment here.

Soufflé