Cheese Soufflé

Cheese Soufflé Recipe

There are some dishes you want to try just for the bragging rights. They are notoriously tricky to execute, and many people list them on their "most difficult" food to make lists. Soufflé is that for me. I love eggs, and I rather enjoy soufflés, but I can't say I've ever craved one. I simply wanted to make a soufflé because any cook worth their salt wants the technique in their culinary pocket.

This was a Saturday night dinner experiment borne out of boredom and ingredients on hand. I had spent the entirety of the day doing nothing but watching tv (lazy Saturdays are such a blessing and yet there are so few a year) because my dear hubby had to go to work. As 4 pm rolled around, I realized that not only had I not done a thing all day, but that my significant other would be coming home soon and I'd have to admit to him that while he spent a precious Saturday at work, I had, in fact, been lying around the house. Desperate to show that I had accomplished something, I figured I'd make dinner.

But what to make? I hadn't gone grocery shopping and at this point I didn't have time to, so I took survey of what I did have:

an entire dozen eggs (I had planned on baking the previous weekend and had been too busy to get to it)
several (at least 5) leftover hunks of cheese (I'm sort of a cheese fiend, a cheeseboard with wine is dinner to me any night)
1 head of romaine lettuce (from a three pack, the other two thirds already consumed during the week)
cherry tomatoes
stubby end of a sandwich loaf (1 real slice of bread and the crust end)

So, feeling very much like a contestant on Chopped, I figured tonight was the night to try souffle. I'd serve it with a salad which would help me use up leftovers anyway. If it was a success, then I had made a notorious dish with ease, and if it was a failure, well at least I tried. Either way, my husband couldn't come home as ask me what I'd been up to all day.

I started by making croutons for the salad. Easy enough, rip the bread into hunks, toss in a little olive oil, garlic salt and pepper, and bake in the oven at 350 F. Fifteen minutes or so and homemade croutons are on the dinner menu. I quickly pulled together salad dressing in the blender (lemon juice, anchovy paste, mustard, salt oil and vinegar) and popped it in the fridge while I got to work on the soufflé. I used Alton Brown's Cheese Souffle Recipe, but changed from one large dish to several smaller.

Eat these quick, they slump as soon as you pull them out.

The result? A complete success. When my husband got home, he was not only surprised that I had attempted the intimidating soufflé, but that with all my hard work I still had found time to make him real croutons.

I didn't have the heart to tell him the full story. All that was left was to pop open my favorite Sauvignon Blanc (Cloudy Bay, a gloriously crisp and mouthwatering wine from New Zealand) and the meal was complete.

Labels: Mains, Soufflé, Wine Info