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.
I'd made soufflé once and not to mention it was a disaster (the whole open-the-door-and falling-together thing). To prevent further ones, I decided for a savoury recipe which wouldn't rise that much anyway. I spotted some really nice sweet potatoes at the supermarket and remembered I hadn't cooked something with them a long time - and I love sweet potatoes by the way (especially baked in the oven with some mozarella on top...). Luckily I found a recipe I could make a soufflé with them, and it was awesome. According to my boyfriend "einfach geil" what means 'simply wicked' ...
Sweet Potato and Gruyère Soufflé (from Epicurious)
- 1/2 cup/50 g freshly grated Parmesan
- 1 cup/ 210 g finely chopped onion (about 3 medium-sized)
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoons/ 30 g unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons/15 g all-purpose flour
- 1 cup/236 ml milk
- 1 cup / 100 g coarsely grated Gruyère (about 3 ounces)
- 2 cups /675 g mashed cooked sweet potatoes (about 2 big potatoes)
- 4 large eggs, separated
Butter a 1 1/2-quart soufflé dish and dust it with 1/4 cup of the Parmesan. In a large heavy saucepan cook the onion and the garlic with salt and pepper to taste in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until the onion is softened, stir in the flour, and cook the roux, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the milk in a stream, whisking, and simmer the mixture, whisking, until it is thickened. Remove the pan from the heat, whisk in the Gruyère, whisking until the cheese is melted, and whisk in the sweet potatoes and the egg yolks, 1 at a time. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they just hold stiff peaks, whisk one fourth of them into the sweet potato mixture to lighten it, and fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the prepared soufflé dish, sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan over it, and bake the soufflé in the middle of a preheated 375°F. oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until it is puffed and golden. Serve the soufflé immediately.
Notes: I don't have a soufflé dish, so I used two creme brulee moulds and a small casserole. We ate it as a main dish, but seved in the brulee moulds it would also be a nice accompaniment for meat (maybe even for a christmas dinner). Because I used smaller dishes it took only 35 minutes.
Actually I wanted to write that with this book I get the feeling to be fed up with my favourite chef. But as I was briefly skipping through the pages again, the enthusiasm grabbed me again. Especially the French and Morrocan section made my senses tingle - could almoust smell all the spices and feel the heat... The Swedish section was disappointing though, I think there are a lot better recipes typical for Sweden which do not contain fish. Therefore I recommend this one: Kitchen of Light: The New Scandinavian Cooking ;).
