This Charming Man’s Soufflé
Firstly, the soundtrack as it’s related to the recipe. I’ll waffle a while to get there, but hopefully you’ll see the connection.
He (Morrissey) uses the word ‘pantry’ in this track. This seems to be a bit of a word for me at the moment, as I’ve noticed (in my absence) that supermarkets here have started using this term – a lot! I can’t help but laugh out loud when I notice I’m buying ‘Pantry Potatoes’ or something else from the pantry for that matter. It’s just too much. When did we Brit’s go back into the Pantry?
Anyway I digress. How did I get from Soufflé to The Smiths??
I have a good friend from Holland, who recently visited with a posse of lovely Dutch ladies and stayed at her Brothers house, which just happens to be spitting distance from me (translation: just up the road, or up the hill in this case).….‘I would go out tonight, but I haven’t got a stitch to wear’
Actually having nothing to wear didn’t stop me at all, I legged it up the road to a beautiful pub/eatery The George. As always with this gang, much fun was had… until we reached the dessert. It was that moment when two of you order the same thing; Banana Soufflé was the offending sweet treat.
They arrived, one perfectly risen, towering above the rim of the ramekin. The other was sunken, wallowing in its own banana egg white at the bottom of the bowl. I received the one flat as a pancake and in a fit of tipsy jealously, I stabbed my spoon, wounding my friends Soufflé. Thankfully she laughed as it collapsed inside its self.
But this was the beginning of the ‘soufflé-off’, like a ‘bake off challenge’ we laid down the eggy gauntlet. We both confessed as to never making one before, so we agreed to tackle a simple savory style, take pictures & post. In the past we’d have probably challenged each other to shots and dancing on the table, now it’s soufflé – very rock and roll…..clearly we’re getting old!
So, after reading up on recipes from Mr Roux, Mr Oliver, Mrs Hay and good old Delia, I went in search of a charismatic local cheese. Something strong and flavorsome, smelly maybe but with its own identity to stand out in the soufflé crowd. That’s when I found this charming Sussex Charmer from Bookham & Harrison
A cross between a mature cheddar & parmesan. It had all the qualities I was looking for. I especially liked the packing, on the back it reads: ‘to keep your charmer charming, wrap in greaseproof paper’ if only this tactic worked for men…. We’d be buying body bag sized rolls of greaseproof and carefully wrapping them every night before they went to bed (too much?!).
I walked back from the deli, Charmer in hand, humming a song from my misspent youth: This Charming Man. It has now inevitably become my Sunday sound track whilst attempting to make my Charming Man a soufflé for dinner!
See photo for results. Whilst i didn’t reach my desired height ( and it dropped a little whilst taking the photo) the flavour was fabulous. Light in texture, rich in flavour with a nice kick from the cayenne pepper.
- 50g softened Organic Butter, Extra to grease dishes
- 50g Grated Breadcrumbs, to coat dishes
- 40g Plain Organic Flour
- 300ml Organic Milk
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Pinch of cayenne
- 4 Large Organic Eggs, Separated
- 100g Sussex Charmer Cheese finely grated,
- Plus 4 15cm Ramekin dishes
- Generously grease the insides of 4 standard 15cm ramekins with the softened butter.
- Lightly coat the inside of the ramekins with the breadcrumbs, tip out any excess.
- To make the béchamel, melt the 50g butter in a pan. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk, to make a roux.
- Still stirring, add the cold milk and bring to the boil over a medium heat.
- Let the mixture boil for around two minutes, then pour the béchamel into a bowl.
- Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne, then whisk in the egg yolks.
- Cover the bowl and let cool slightly.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.
- Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form.
- Immediately mix one-third of the egg whites into the warm soufflé mixture with a whisk, then, using a large spoon, fold in the rest with one hand whilst showering in the grated cheese with the other.
- Once fully mixed immediately spoon the mixture into the ramekins to come 5mm above the rim.
- Smooth the surface with a palette knife.
- Use a knife tip to ease the mixture away from the side of each ramekins to help it rise.
- Stand the ramekins in a deep ovenproof dish lined with greaseproof paper and pour in enough almost-boiling water to come halfway up the sides.
- Bake the soufflés for 14 -18 minutes.
- Place the cooked soufflés on individual plates, serve and enjoy immediately!
