With Bastille Day nearly upon us, what better way to celebrate the occasion than by testing your cooking skills on this recipe from acclaimed French-born chef Guillaume Brahimi.
Bistro Guillaume’s Twice Baked Cheese Soufflé with Salad of Apples, Walnuts and Watercress
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
340ml milk
1 bay leaf
48g butter
44g flour
50g blue cheese
20g unsalted butter, softened
30g parmesan cheese, finely grated
60g egg whites
32g egg yolk
40ml pure cream
80g Gruyère cheese, grated
Roquefort Cream
400ml pure cream
400ml white wine
100g Roquefort cheese
Salad
160g watercress, washed and trimmed
1 Granny Smith apple, julienned
¼ cup roasted walnuts, broken into small pieces
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1½ tbsp walnut oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Method
1. Bring milk and bay leaf to boil over a medium-high heat.
2. Melt butter in a hot pan until bubbling then add flour, whisk for 5 mins to cook out the roux. Slowly add hot milk, stirring, until mixture is smooth (10 mins).
3. Turn off heat and whisk in blue cheese. Transfer to a food processor and blend until smooth. Cover with cling film or baking paper to stop skin forming. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
4. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Brush four 10cm (230ml capacity) soufflé dishes with softened butter and coat with parmesan. Add egg yolks to cooled béchamel; stir to combine.
5. Whisk egg whites until medium peaks form; fold into the béchamel. Carefully spoon the mixture into prepared dishes. Place a tea towel into a deep roasting tin and sit dishes on top. Fill tin with hot water until halfway up the sides of moulds.
6. Bake for 30 mins, turning the tray around halfway through cooking time. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tray.
7. For the Roquefort cream, place cream and wine in a medium saucepan over medium heat; reduce by half, then remove from heat. Using a hand blender, blend in blue cheese until smooth. Set aside and keep warm.
8. When soufflés are cool enough to handle, place four spots of cream on a baking tray lined with baking paper (each spot should be 2 tsp of cream). Carefully remove soufflés from dishes by turning them over onto each spot on the tray (they will fall out if well-greased, if not use a paring knife to run around edges).
9. Top with 20g grated gruyère per soufflé. Bake for 6–7 mins or until risen and golden.
10. Just before serving, combine rocket, apple and walnuts in a bowl and toss gently.
11. Whisk together vinegar, olive oil and walnut oil. Drizzle dressing over salad and season to taste. 12. Arrange a portion of salad on each plate and place a soufflé alongside, then spoon Roquefort cream over soufflé.