Home › Vegetables › Vegetable Souffle
Vegetable Souffle
1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup flour 1/3 cup cream 1/3 cup water in which vegetables were cooked 1 cup cooked vegetables rubbed through a sieve,-carrots, turnips, or onions Yolks 3 eggs Whites 3 eggs Salt and pepper Melt butter, add flour, and pour on gradually cream and water; add vegetable, yolks of eggs beaten until thick and lemon colored, and fold in whites of eggs beaten until stiff, then add seasonings. Turn in a buttered baking-dish and bake in a slow oven.
A classic béchamel-based soufflé, thick enough to be forgiving. The vegetable purée must be genuinely dry and smooth or the base will not hold the whipped whites.
- Slow ovenRead this as roughly 300-325F (period usage varies). In a 1-quart buttered dish expect somewhere in the region of 35-45 minutes; the souffle is done when the centre barely trembles and a knife inserted at the edge comes out clean.
- Season the base, not the finished batterThe instruction to add salt and pepper after folding in the whites will cost you volume. Season the sauce and purée before the yolks go in, and fold the whites last with as few strokes as possible.
- Rubbed through a sieveA food processor or food mill does this in seconds, but puree while the vegetables are hot and then let the puree cool to lukewarm before it meets the yolks. The wording is ambiguous as to whether the cup is measured before or after sieving; a cup of finished puree is the safer reading.
- Dry the puréeCarrots, turnips and especially onions carry a lot of water. Cook the purée down in a dry pan for a few minutes until it stiffens and pulls from the sides, or the soufflé will be soggy at the bottom.
- Cream and cooking waterA third of a cup each with a quarter cup of flour gives a very stiff panade, which is what you want. Add the liquid gradually off the heat, then return to a simmer and cook a full two minutes to lose the raw-flour taste.
- Egg whitesBeat to firm but not dry peaks. Slack the base first with about a quarter of the whites, then fold in the rest in two additions.
- YieldServes four as a side or three as a light supper course. Serve it straight from the oven; it will settle within a few minutes.