Savoury Souffle Recipe: Watercress and Parmesan Souffle

This months Daring Kitchen challenge had me revisit a previously unsuccessful dish – the Souffle. Ignited with encouragement and advise from the Monkeyshine-ers I tackled this dish with confidence and determination – and it paid off with some delicious, (almost) perfectly risen souffles. Gone are the days of the sou-flops!

 A souffle can be either savoury or sweet, and is a great example of just how wonderful and versatile the humble egg is in the kitchen. I mean those little beauties are just so damn useful! The basic principle of the souffle is that you seperate the eggs, use the yolks to create the ‘base’ (either roux-based sauce for savoury or a thick custard for sweet), then the egg whites are beaten into submission and added to the base just before baking. Baking sees the souffle rise magically, leaving you with a puffy creation that is deliciously firm on the outside and moiste in the middle.

Tips for a succesful souffle:

- The smaller the souffle baking dish the more likely it is to rise, I recommend starting with baking multiple individually sized portions and working your way up to a larger souffle – less likey to deflate!
- Mise En Place – get everything washed, chopped, measured and ready to go before you start the recipe. It’s important to work quickly when you make this recipe.
- Egg whipping edicate: Use room temperature eggs and make sure that the bowl and wisk (or mixer) is free of any greese, yolk, detergent etc as any interfeering substance will result in badly whipped egg whites.
- Temper the egg yolks before you add them to the base mixture, otherwise you run the risk of creating scrambled eggs when the cold yolkes are mixed with the hot base mixture. See how to temper eggs here.
- Oven edicate: the oven must be really well preheated, and fight the urge to open it during the cooking process. The loss of any heat during the crucial first 15mins of cooking will result in a deflated and sad souffle.

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided many 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.

Recipe: Watercress and Parmesan Souffle
Makes 5 individual souffles (or 1 large, in a 1.6-2l baking tray)
(printable recipe)
2 Tbsp 1 oz/30g butter plus additional for the soufflé dish
3½ Tbsp (55 ml) 1 oz/30g plain (all purpose) flour
1 cup/8 fluid oz (240ml) milk
½ cup (120 ml) 2 oz/60g parmesan cheese, finely grated plus additional for the soufflé dish
1 cup (250ml) 2 oz/60g finely chopped de-stemmed watercress (can substitute spinach) – about 1 large bunch (this measure is the leaves after they’ve been washed, de-stemmed, and chopped)
4 large eggs, separated
½ tsp (2½ ml) (3 gm) (.1 oz) prepared mustard
¼ tsp (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) (0.05 oz) cream of tartar OR ½ tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Butter the soufflé dish(es) thoroughly, then grate a small amount of cheese in each dish and tap so that the sides are evenly coated with the cheese. Place the dish(es) in the refrigerator until needed (according to some sites, this helps the soufflé climb).

Preheat the oven to moderate 350º F / 180º C / gas mark 4.

Wash and chop the watercress if you haven’t already.
Finely grate the parmesan cheese.

In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, then stir in the flour to make a roux. Cook 1 minute, then add the milk, a little at a time, and stir until just thickened, about 1 minute. Add the cheese and stir until it’s just melted. Remove from heat then add the watercress and salt and pepper.

In a larger pan, bring water to a gentle simmer. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl set just over this water until pale and slightly foamy – about 6 minutes. (I held the bowl just above the simmering water to be sure I didn’t cook the eggs).

Mix the egg yolks into the watercress sauce.

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until they form stiff peaks yet are still glossy.

Fold the egg whites into the sauce in 3 additions so that it’s evenly mixed, but you don’t lose too much volume.

Remove the soufflé dish from the refrigerator and spoon the mix into it. Use a spatula to even the tops of the soufflés and wipe off any spills.

Bake 25 minutes for small dishes or 40 minutes if using a large soufflé dish, then serve immediately.