Spinach Soufflé

It's time again for my Daring Cooks' Challenge (which I missed last month).  This is my 3rd one and I think the most challenging in terms of blogging and photographing.

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 chose to make the Spinach (well actually it was watercress, but spinach was easier for me to acquire) Soufflé.  Now, I have always been intimidated by the thought of soufflés.  They were this "gourmet" super time consuming dish that should be left to the professionals.  But the only truly difficult thing about this dish was taking the photos for the blog!


Before I began my soufflé adventure, I watched this video by Julia Child, it's about 20-25 minutes long.  Amazing.  She has a way of breaking things down in such a way that it no longer seems like a daunting task.  After watching this, I was no longer afraid of the soufflé.  I highly recommend you watching this episode of The French Chef before starting out.  Any recipe notes I could give you would be straight from this episode anyway.

So without any further ado, here is the recipe...


Spinach Soufflé
printable version

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp  butter plus additional for the soufflé dish
3½ Tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
1 cup milk
½ cup parmesan cheese, finely grated plus additional for the soufflé dish
1 cup finely chopped spinach

4 large eggs, separated
½ tsp prepared mustard
¼ tsp cream of tartar*
Salt and pepper to taste
* If you can’t find cream of tartar, a dash (~ ½ tsp) of lemon juice can be substituted

Directions:

1. 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). 

2. Preheat the oven to moderate 350º F 

3. Wash and chop the spinach if you haven’t already.

4. 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 spinach, mustard, salt and pepper.

Roux

5. 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. 

6. Mix the egg yolks into the spinach sauce.
7. Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until they form stiff peaks yet are still glossy.

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

9. 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.

10. Bake 25 minutes for small dishes or 40 minutes if using a large soufflé dish, then serve immediately with a nice green salad and a glass of wine.