Souffle.

For a couple weeks now I had been contemplating making a souffle, given the fact that there are always an abundance of eggs around, and despite all of the hullabaloo about souffles being difficult to make, I had a feeling that they wouldn't be that bad.  I particularly enjoy a nice savoury souffle, so thought that should be the first type I should attempt.  I had some leftover chives from last weekend that were on their way out, so thought I would go with a chive and chevre souffle.  Here were the ingredients that I used:

• 2 tbsp butter (plus whatever you need to grease the souffle dish)
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup cereal cream (10%) - you can use whole milk instead
• 1/4 cup chevre
• two small green onions
• 1/4 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp dried dill
• two eggs, separated

First, I set the oven to 300 degrees.  Then I melted the butter in a medium saucepan.  When it was melted and bubbling/foaming, I added the flour and whisked it until it was incorporated (I actually ended up stirring it more than whisking it because there was so little butter in the pan and the whisk couldn't get at the mixture around the edges).  It was quite thick and goopy, so I put in the cream right away, hoping that would help.  Once it was incorporated, I let it thicken for a couple minutes.  This is the base of the souffle.  I reduced the heat and added the goat cheese, stirring it in to incorporate it.  Then I turned the heat off entirely and moved the saucepan to a cool element.  I added the chives, dill, some salt and pepper, and the mustard and set it aside to allow it to cool.

In a small bowl, I blended the egg yolks until they had lightened a little in colour.  Then, in a separate bowl, I beat the egg whites until they were stiff (but not glossy like you need for meringues).  I added the yolks to the cool-ish flour/butter mixture, and incorporated them well.  I then gently folded in half of the egg whites.  Then, I very gently folded in the other half of the egg whites.  When making a souffle, you should not stir the egg whites into the mixture, as this will release the air that was trapped in the whites, which will cause your souffle not to rise properly.  You just fold the egg whites in until they are reasonably well incorporated, but you will still most likely to be able to see parts where there are more whites than others. 

I then greased the two small souffle dishes I planned to use and very carefully scooped/poured the mixture into the dishes.  I baked them for about 45 minutes (my instructions had said 35-40 minutes, but they had not browned much at all on the tops at 40 minutes, so I left them in a bit longer), and at the end their tops were very lightly browned.

I, of course, didn't take the time to smooth out the tops nicely, so they were a bit deformed, but of course that didn't affect the taste.  If I could do it all again, I might add more dill and chives.  But, all in all, I was very happy with this first attempt!