Souffles

I thought souffles were meant to be tricky beasts, but this recipe was super-simple. Naff photo - sorry about that! Once again, I was hungry, so it was just a quick snap before I gobbled my dinner!



I love the fact that it seems so impressive, but was actually easy to make. I had extra high levels of smugness for this dinner as they were goats cheese souffles made using my very own home-made goats cheese. Oh my goodness, even I hate me when I read that sentence back!

We had them with smoked haddock and leeks, but that could be changed depending on the season - I think they would be lovely with tomatoes in the spring, or with prawns, white fish and peas for a lighter fish pie.

But seriously, SO EASY!

Goats' Cheese Souffles
Enough for 6 small souffles or 4 larger ones

150g soft goats cheese
1 teaspoon cornflour
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and black pepper
Freshly grated parmesan (optional)

Butter 6 oven proof ramekins. Set oven to preheat to 200C.
Mix the goats cheese and cornflour together thoroughly with a wooden spoon (don't know why it has to be wooden, but figured I should obey the commands!).
Separate 2 of the eggs and mix the yolks into the cheese mixture until it is smooth and well amalgamted. Put the whites into a large bowl and set aside for now. Add the oregano to the cheese mixture, as well as the salt and pepper and stir in.
Separate the 3rd egg and put the white in the bowl with the other 2 egg whites. (You won't be usig this yolk, so you could just use it in some other recipe or have an extra egg yolk in your scrambled eggs the next day.) Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the egg whites and then whisk them with an electric whisk until they form soft peaks. Fold them carefully into the cheese mixture with a metal spoon. Don't be too heavy handed or over mix or you will knock all the air out of the egg and the souffles won't rise properly.
Spoon the mixture into ramekins, sprinkle the tops with parmesan chees if you want (I didn't for mine but did for Dan's, both were tasty). Place the ramekins on a baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes until well-risen and slightly browned.
Serve immediately. They start to sink quite quickly once they come out of the oven, so you need to dish them up and get them on the table reasonably fast for the full impact of perfectly risen souffles.

PS I'm realising that the recipes that I've been most excited by as I've progressed through the weeks have definitely been the ones which I think are going to cause problems and then are easy. They must appeal to my lazy side - maximum impact with minimum effort.