Cheese Souffle Recipe

This Cheese Souffle recipe makes a delectable light supper and is ideal if you are wanting simple vegetarian recipes (although this wouldn't do for vegans). There are misconceptions that souffles are tricky to make but they are surprisingly simple. This cheese souffle recipe is one of our favorite quick dinner recipes. It is high in protein and relatively inexpensive, so quite a good choice if you are budget meal planning.

This quantity makes 6 ramekins but as the men in our family have hearty appetites, the recipe feeds 4. You can make it in a 3 pint (1½ liter) souffle dish or casserole dish with straight sides. I never tie a "collar" around my souffles and have never had a problem with their not rising correctly.

Ingredients:

You will need 6 ramekin dishes or 1 souffle or casserole dish.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 375° F / 190° C.
2. Grease the ramekin dishes. I suggest that you place the ramekin dishes on a baking tray. This makes it easy to remove them from the oven.
3. Melt the butter in a pot. Stir in the flour. Cook this mixture for about 1 minute. Slowly add the milk, stirring all the time. Allow the mixture to simmer and thicken. Essentially, you have made a white sauce.
4. Stir in the cheese and mustard.
5. Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the egg yolks. (If you attempt to do this over the heat the yolks will scramble.)
6. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Immediately FOLD the whites into the cheese mixture, using a metal spoon. Don't over-mix or else you will beat the air out of the mixture. Keep your "folding" action light! This sounds a bit pedantic!
7. Season with the salt and a grind of black pepper. Divide the mixture between the ramekin dishes. Bake for about 20 minutes without opening the oven. Then take a peek. The cheese souffles are ready when they are well risen and slightly brown on top. If you are very careful, you can poke a skewer into one of them and see if it comes out clean. Try to aim the skewer in from the side so that you don't damage the top and risk deflating the souffle! But basically, if the souffle has risen well, it is ready. If you are using a large souffle dish, add about 20 minutes extra to the cooking time.
8. Serve this Cheese Souffle recipe immediately with a green salad. Delicious!

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