on saturday night vanessa and i learnt that souffles are ALL ABOUT THE RULES

(adapted from nadine abensur’s the cranks bible)

(hard to make without scales, but we did it somehow)

• 60g butter (plus extra for greasing
• 1 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
• 375g vegetable (this is a bit give and take, we used 2 big beetroots)
• 1 onion, quartered
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled
• pinch vege stock powder
• 50g plain flour
• 125ml vege cooking liquid
• 125ml milk
• 30ml wine (we used white)
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 eggs, separated, plus 1 extra egg white
• 4 tbsp chopped parsley/chives
• pinch chilli powder, salt and pepper
• 4 tbsp grated parmesam, plus 1 tbsp for dusting

you also need a 1 litre souffle dish. we were unprepared for this necessity (the opshops hadn’t provided) and so spent a bit of time pouring a litre of water into various ceramic dishes in the house to try and find an approximate replacement. the lack of a proper souffle dish was in the end what let down what was otherwise a perfect success.

grease the dish with butter, and dust with the breadcrumbs and tbsp of grated cheese. make a ‘collar’ for the dish, we used printer paper and a stapler, but i think you’re sposed to use baking paper.

preheat the oven to 200 celcius

peel the beetroot, chop into 4s or 8s, put them in a pan with the onion, garlic and stock powder. cover with water and boil until tender.

drain, but keep the hot pink water in a bowl. blend the beetroot mix until smooth, and measure out 200g of mixture.

melt the butter in a pan, add the flour to make a roux, then the pink water, stir through till smooth, then add the milk, wine and bay leaf, and stir to a thick paste.

add the beetroot puree. add the beaten egg yolks a little at a time. add the chilli, salt, pepper and parmesan. beat the egg whites till stiff peaks form, then fold them through with a metal spoon. 

pour the mixture into the souffle dish, put the collar on it, and put it into the oven on a baking tray. this is when the rules really start.

DO NOT PEEK, UNLESS IT IS THROUGH A GLASS DOOR.

after 30 minutes it should have risen and be golden on top. 

NOW YOU CAN OPEN THE DOOR, BUT DO NOT TAKE THE SOUFFLE OUT OF THE OVEN. turn it off, and let it sit there for a few minutes.

now the souffle demonstrates affect:

“A SOUFFLE WILL TOLERATE NO LATE-COMERS SO MAKE SURE YOUR PEOPLE ARE WAITING FOR YOU AND NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND”

they are the rules. we served this with a good hunk of ashed goats cheese and a rocket/pomegranate salad. we did have to return half to the oven to finish the cooking (this must be where the ‘twice baked’ souffle came from). but it was so moorish all three of use went back for seconds.