Thursday, January 17, 2008

Leeks and gruyère Soufflé, Step-By-Step / Le Soufflé de poireaux et Gruyère, étape par étape

Leeks and Gruyere Souffle


When I was thirteen, I started writing recipes in an agenda that my father had given me. The agenda wasn’t my favorite. When I think about it, I should have chosen a prettier one, a real recipe notebook; yet I’ve decided to go with this one. A small blue agenda with aluminum covered corners and on the cover you can read: “M Roads and Buildings Industry”. I know this M. He’s my father’s friend, a really nice guy. I just didn’t expect his agenda to be the one that would carry my cherished recipes for such a long time, but it did.

My mother’s recipes notebook is also an agenda. A big, black agenda, that goes back to the late seventies, early eighties. I don’t really remember the exact date. What I do remember however is that on the cover you can read: "National’s Oil Company”. I guess it runs in the family!

But when you come to think about it, isn’t cooking making something out of natural resources? That might explain why my mother and I use such agendas as recipes repertoire. Smart thinking, right?

One thing I made yesterday in my kitchen was this Gruyère and Leeks soufflé. It was heavenly delicious: Creamy, light and very comforting. I know a lot of people get scared of soufflés; they have this reputation of being hard to make and don’t like to wait for anybody. But like most reputations, what you hear is not always true.

If you’ve ever whipped up some egg whites or made a mousse, then there is no reason in not making soufflé. This time, I decided to give you a step-by-step recipe in making leeks and Gruyère soufflé. I hope you will enjoy it.

If you have any ideas for step-by-step recipes, let me know. All suggestions are always welcome.

Leeks and Gruyère Soufflé

Recipe: Basic Soufflé recipe from here. Serves 6.
- 4 ½ tbsp sweet butter, plus 1 tsp to coat the
- ¾ cup grated Gruyère cheese
- 3 leeks, cleaned, washed and roughly sliced
- 1 ¼ tsp sea salt
- 4 ½ tbsp flour
- 1 ¼ cup milk
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ½ tsp old style Dijon mustard
- A pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
- 3 egg yolks
- 7 egg whites


Soufflé de Poireaux et Gruyère

In Francais Please: La base du soufflé d'ici. Pour 6 personnes.
- 75 g de farine
- 75 g de Gruyère râpé
- 3 poireaux, néttoyés, laves et grossierement hachés
- 1 ½ c.c de sel marin
- 40g de farine
- 275 ml lait
- ¼ c.c de poivre noir, fraichement moulu
- ½ c.c de moutarde a l’ancienne
- Une petite pincée de noix de muscade, fraichement moulu
- 3 jaunes d’oeufs
- 7 blancs d’oeufs

- Make Ahead: Take the eggs out of the fridge, and let them come at room temperature.
Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a pan and sauté the sliced leeks season with ¼ tsp salt. Cover and cook for 5 min on medium-low heat until the leeks are tender. Uncover and continue cooking for a few minutes on high heat until all the liquid has been evaporated. Set aside to cool.
- Avant Toute Chose: Sortir les oeufs du frigo pour qu’ils reviennent à temperature ambiante. Faire fondre 1 c.c de beurre dans une poele et faites sauter les poireaux. Ajouter du sel et laisser cuire sur feu dou, couvert jusqu'à ce qu’ils deviennent tendres. Découvrir le poele et laisser cuire encore plus, sur grand feu, jusqu’à ce que tout liquide soit evaporé. Mettre de coté.


Ramekin


1- Butter a 1½- quart soufflé mold with 1 tsp soft butter. Be sure it is well coated all around.
Add the Gruyère cheese and turn the mold around so that the cheese sticks to the butter. Let the extra cheese fall into a bowl. Refrigerate the coated mold. A very cold mold helps the soufflé rise straight. Never smear the coating or you mat disturb the rising of the mixture.

1- Beurrer généreusement un moule à soufflé d’1 ½ L avec 1 c.c de beurre mou. Ajouter le Gruyère râpé et faites tourner le moule tout autour afin que le fromage adhere aux parois du moule. Enlever l’exces de fromage mais sans jamais toucher l’interieur du moule ou vous risquerez de deranger la montée du soufflé. Mettre le moule au frais. Un moule bien froid aide le soufflé a monter bien droit.


Le Roux


2- Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Stir quickly, and cook for 1 minute on low heat.
3- Add the milk, 1 tsp salt, black pepper, the Dijon mustard and bring to a boil, stirring with a whisk. As soon as it reaches the boiling point, the sauce will thicken. Boil on low heat for 1 min, still stirring to avoid scorching.

2- Faites fondre le beurre restant dans une casserole et ajouter la farine d’un seul coup. Mélanger rapidement, et faites cuire sur feu doux pendant 1 minute.
3- Ajouter le lait, sel, poivre, la moutarde de Dijon et porter a ébullition, en remuant constament avec un fouet. Des les premiers bouillonements, la sauce commencera a épaissir. Laisser mijoter sur feu doux pendant une minute, tout en continuant de mélanger.


egg yolks and sauce


4- Away from the heat, add the yolks and mix well.

4- Hors du feu, ajouter les jaunes d’oeufs et mélanger.


leeks and sauce


5- Add the leeks, ground nutmeg and the grated Gruyère cheese. Stir with a wooden spoon.

5- Ajouter les poireaux, la noix de muscade rape et le Gruyère rape. Mélanger a l’aide d’une cuillere en bois.


egg whites copy


6- Whip the egg whites until they hold a peak, but are still “wet”. Place about one-third in the leek mixture and mix with a whisk. Work as fast as you can, because as soon as you stop beating the whites, they start to break down and become grainy.

6- Battre les blancs d’oeufs en neige jusqu’a ce qu’ils gagnent de volume mais reste un peu mousseux. Ajouter le tiers a la sauce de poireaux et mélanger avec un fouet. Travailler aussi rapidement que possible car après avoir cesser de battre les blancs, ils ont tendance a se séparer.


egg whites incorporated


7- Using a spatula, gently fold the remaining whites and leeks mixture together.

7- A l’aide d’une maryse, incorporer délicatement les blancs au mélange de poireaux.


Souffle before Baking


8- Fill the soufflé mold to the edges. At this point, the soufflé can be refrigerated, and will keep for at least a couple of hours. At baking time, sprinkle some Gruyere cheese on top and place on a cookie sheet in a 375F-preheated oven. Reduce the heat to 350F and bake for 30-35 minutes (about 25 minutes for individual ramekins). Never open the oven when it’s still baking. Serve immediately.

8- Remplir le moule à soufflé jusqu’aux bords. A ce stade, le soufflé peut etre mis au frais pour quelques heures. Au moment de le cuire, parsemer un peu de gruyère râpé au dessus et faites cuire dans un four préchauffé a 190C. Baisser la temperature a 177C et laisser cuire pendant 30-35 minutes (Environ 25 minutes pour des ramequins). Ne jamais ouvrir le four pendant la cuisson du soufflé. Servir tout de suite.


Unmolded


9- You can also serve your soufflé, especially if it is collapsed, unmolded. Run a knife a round the edges and invert on a plate. Serve in wedges.

9- Vous pouvez aussi choisir de servir le soufflé démoulé (surtout si ce dernier est tombé). Faites passer un couteau autour des bords et démouler. Servir en tranches.

25 comments:

KayKat said...

Warda, this is the perfect souffle.

Your agenda sounds like the diary that I started scribbling recipes in many many years ago - and mine had the logo of Madras Refineries - that's where my dad worked :)

Brilynn said...

Wonderful job photographing the souffle, it's always tricky to do so!

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with what you say ! Baking a soufflé is absolutely funny and easy when you take care of some little details that are meanwhile important :)
I choosed the soufflé fort he KKVKVK, hoping that numbers of frightenend bloggers would try :)

Anonymous said...

This looks spectacular!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Souffles are still a little bit scary for me, but I do love them. Leek and gruyere sounds like such a delicious combination. Thanks for the step-by-step instruction, too.

Gigi said...

Wonderful step by step photos and instructions! I am inspired to make souffle.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Souffles are always so difficult to photograph - you did an awesome job of it. I also love the flavor combination here! Perfect!

Aimée said...

Beautiful progression of photos and a decadent looking souffle. Well done!

Claude-Olivier Marti said...

Attention,car la tu t'attaques pas à nimporte quoi...ben oui, le gruyère, c'est chez moi qu'il vient...le véritalbe gruyère en tout cas ;-) Mais ta recette le mets bien en valeur, ca va ^^! biz

Anonymous said...

Très beau soufflé !Mais on m'a toujours dit qu'il fallait battre les blancs et les incorporer à la dernière minute. Ton soufflé est la preuve que ce n'est pas indispensable...

Warda said...

- Kaykat, thanks a lot. Do you still have your recipe repertoire?

- Brilynn, thanks. Although I am not very pleased with the picture. It has already started collapsing. Such a diva this souffle!

- Marion, I saw your souffle roundup not too long ago. I should have posted this recipe before:)

- Danielle, welcome! I am glad you like it. Thanks!

- Lydia, you are very welcome my dear. But you shouldn't be afraid of them when you can make delicious tagines.

- Gigi, Glad to hear it.

- Meeta, thank you very much. It was indeed very delicious. Honestly, I was very surprised myself how all the ingredients work together so perfectly.

- Aimee, thanks a lot my friend.

- Claude, Vive La Suisse pour son Gruyere! Celui que j'ai utilise est importe de Suisse et il etait tres bon. On aurait dit du Comte! J'en ai mange deux tranches avant de l'utiliser dans le souffle. Heureusement que je passe le test sans probleme! ;)

- Anne, merci beaucoup. Moi aussi c'est ce qu'on m'a toujours dit, mais d'apres Jacques Pepin ca ne change rien si tu le emts au frais. Et il a raison, ca n'affecte en rien la monte du souffle.

Anonymous said...

Un morceau du souffle, s'il vous plait! I have been thinking and thinking about souffle lately. I bought some comte to encourage me but it's still sitting in my fridge. I love the step by step photos you included. I think your agenda is perfect - how lucky your daughter to one day inherit it :) A+ Christine

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Some very, very helpful tips there - thank you for sharing!

mima said...

une autre version de la recette de base du soufflé,apparemment.Car à mon époque,et jusqu'à ce jour,il fallait ajouter les jaunes un à un .Ainsi, tu nous facilites la procédure !!je l'essaye cette semaine tant que c'est la saison des poireaux et surtout que toute la maisonnée les aime .J'en connais un qui va en redemander comme pour le velouté aux choux fleurs!!! En tout cas ,j'aime bien la façon 'step by step'...biz

Anonymous said...

What a lovely post this is! Your souffle looks beautiful and the step-by-step is very helpful.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this wonderful and informative post! I can't wait to try out the souffle!

mima said...

J'allais oublier!Je suis toujours aussi friande d'agendas....pour y mettre quelques recettes...Il y a longtemps que je n'ai plus de rendez vous d'affaires!!! un grand Merci à toute les chérikétes!!! Je tenais à le dire...Biz

Wendy said...

Wow, that's beautiful!

winedeb said...

Nice job! I love the step by step photos!

Warda said...

- Christine, if I had some Comte in my fridge, I don't think it would last more than two days, as it's hubbiy's favorite cheese.

- Aforkful, you are very welcome. Glad I could help.

- Ann, thank you very much.

- Clumsycook, I hope you will like it. It was all my pleasure.

- Mima, un grand merci tout a fait!

- Wendy, thank you very much.

- Deb, thanks a lot.

Anonymous said...

that souffle looks phenomenal! keeping a journal of recipes is such a great idea. i'm in the process of combining my family's recipes into a book. btw you have a great site!

Warda said...

- Pina, thank you very much and welcome! Good luck with you cookbook. It must be very exciting! And congratulation on your double nominations! :)

Julie said...

I love making souffles, and I totally agree it's no big deal. Once you've got the process down, you can do anything. This is a great flavor combo. Gruyere is currently my favorite cheese, but it must be the very good French gruyere. I know it's not really gruyere if it's made elsewhere, but it's amazing what food companies try to pass off.

Warda said...

- Julie, I bet you make a killing souffle! Actually, THE REAL Gruyere comes from Switzerland. The brand that I used is imported form there. It has a switzerand flag but I don't remember the brand. You can always tase and see the gruyere that you like the most.

Zoe said...

Looks amazing! Thanks for the step by step!