A Perfect Festive Starter
- Becca Wilson
- Dec 18, 2017
- 3 min read
Twice Baked Cheese Souffles with homemade relish. Perfect, yes?
These are great for a dinner party because you can make them the night before and then reheat when serving. Scott and I wanted to create a delicious 3 course meal for Scott's mum and dad to thank them for letting us stay with them. We decided to start with a souffle because it is something we've both wanted to try. We served them with a red onion relish. We looked at lots of recipes for a main and it took us a while to decide what we wanted to make. We actually ended up making a Veggie Sausage Casserole which I've made before (see blog 22.9.17) and we served it with a herby mash and fresh green beans. For pudding we tried something new - I won't give away the surprise, check out my next blog.
We used these 2 recipes to create the souffles and relish:
http://www.recipetineats.com/twice-baked-make-ahead-cheese-souffle/
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1415637/red-onion-relish
We tweaked the recipes so here's how webmade twice baked souffles and the red onion relish:
Ingredients:
(Serves 4-6)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
50g finely chopped shallots
40g plain gluten free flour (unsifted)
240ml milk
170g grated good melting cheese - gruyere is the best
3 eggs, separated
Seasoning
Sprinkle of rosemary and thyme
For Reheating/Second Bake
295ml cream (unwhipped)
4 tbsp grated cheese
Seasoning
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease four ramekins or 6 small ramekins very well.
2. Bring kettle to boil with plenty of water.
3. Melt half the butter (i.e. 2 tbsp) in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the shallots and cook for a couple of minutes until softened, then remove from pan into a bowl.
4. In the same pan, melt the remaining butter, add the flour and herbs and stir for a couple of minutes. Then whisking constantly, add ¼ of the milk, and when it has combined (it will be a thick paste consistency) add the remaining milk, whisking constantly over the medium heat.
5. Continue to whisk and in a minute or two, it will start to thicken. Once it becomes the consistency of a thick pouring cream, remove from heat, add the cheese and shallots and mix to combine. The cheese does not need to melt. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly, then add the egg yolks, season and mix to combine.
6. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until stiff then fold a spoonful of the whites into the cheese mixture to lighten it. Then pour the cheese mixture into the bowl with the egg whites and gently fold it to combine. Don't over mix as it will knock out the air out of the egg whites, it is mixed enough when there are still slight streaks of white and yellow.
7. Spoon the mixture into ramekins and smooth the tops. Place in a baking dish then pour boiling water around the ramekins so that it comes half way up their sides.
8. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes or until puffed up and golden on top. Remove from oven and leave in ramekins for a couple of minutes. Then run a small knife around the edge before turning out the souffles. They will deflate a little as they cool.
9. Place on a tray, cover with cling film and leave them in the fridge overnight.
Second Bake Prior to Serving:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
2. Leave souffles on the baking trat, pour ¼ of the cream over the top, scatter 1 tbsp grated cheese and season.
3.Bake for 15 minutes until puffed up and the cream is bubbly and golden.
4. Serve immediately.
Here's a yummy relish that you might want to serve with the souffles -
Ingredients:
2 red onions
50g butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp Good quality red wine vinegar
2 tbsp red wine (Orkney Red works very well)
Method:
Chop the red onions into thin petals.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the sliced onion to the melted butter.
Fry for a few minutes, then add the brown sugar, red wine vinegar and wine.
Stir and allow to simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent the sugar from burning.
It should now have reduced to a delicious dark red relish - Serve straight away or pop in a jar and store in the fridge for a later date.
The dish was really tasty and the souffles were surprisingly light. A perfect Xmas Starter.
That's me back in Edinburgh now. I managed to cram what I needed into 20KG yay! I've already caught up with my best friend of over 20 years and popped into town. It's hard not to spend money when you go into town but I've got to remember the end goal! So I've got 3 weeks to catch up with everyone and get organised to go. I'll keep you posted on what I get up to.
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