I'd never made a soufflé before this. I don't think I'd ever even eaten one before. However, we finally got around to pulling the rest of our cookbooks out of storage and I've been enjoying reacquainting myself with some of them. I mostly remember the Good Egg for its spaghetti with fried eggs recipe. I don't think I ever made much else from it. But I figured maybe it was time to give it another look.

I've always been rather intimidated by soufflés. Having read over the recipe though, it didn't really seem any worse than making an angel food cake. A bit more fuss at the beginning with making the base, but nothing really difficult. And the mixing and baking isn't really any more complicated either. And, as an added bonus, soufflés are expected to fall upon being removed from the oven, so you don't have to fuss with trying to cool them upside down or anything. I think my biggest issue was not being sure when it was done. After 35 minutes it was quite dark on top but still slightly runny in the centre. Another 10 minutes in the oven solved that nicely though. All-in-all, I would say my first venture into soufflés was a success!

I forgot to create a trench around the edge to give it the traditional "top hat" shape. Oh well... it was still delicious!

Spinach and Parmesan Soufflé

Slighlty adapted from the Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• dry breadcrumbs, for coating the dish
• 275g fresh or frozen spinach
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 3 large eggs, separated + 1 large egg white
• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and grease a 6-cup casserole/soufflé dish and coat it with fine dry breadcrumbs. Alternatively, you may use extra grated Parmesan to coat the dish.
2. Lightly cook the spinach by your preferred method, squeeze it dry, and finely chop it. Set aside.
3. Melt the butter over low heat.
4. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes.
5. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil.
6. Cook, stirring constantly, for another 3 minutes.
7. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg and remove from heat.
8. Mix a little of the sauce (milk mixture) into the egg yolks to temper them.
9. Add the remaining sauce to the yolks and mix well.
10. Stir in the cheese and spinach.
11. Place the egg whites in a large, clean bowl.
12. Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites.
13. Beat with an electric mixer on low until soft peaks form.
14. Increase speed to high and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
15. Add ~1/3 of the beaten egg whites to the base (spinach-cheese) mixture and stir to loosen and combine.
16. Now add the lightened base mixture to the bowl with the egg whites and carefully fold them into the mixture.
17. Carefully pour the mixture into the prepared dish.
18. Smooth the top with a spatula and make a trench ~2cm deep around the outside edge with your finger or the back of a spoon. This will give your soufflé the traditional "top hat" shape.
19. Place the soufflé in the oven and reduce temperature to 190°C (375°F).
20. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 35-45 minutes depending on how firm you like your soufflé.