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This sure is delicious, and after making it multiple times, it becomes easy. This is a great thing to practice and have in your repertoire!

We had a cheese souffle in Italy, which reminded my husband that he used to make them for me early in our marriage, so I requested one for Mother’s Day, and in turn, you all asked for the recipe. So here it is, borrowed heavily from Julia Child.

The basic cheese souffle is a bechamel sauce enriched with egg yolks and cheese, into which beaten egg whites are folded.

Bake the souffle in a dish a little too small so it puffs into a collar. When the collar is removed the souffle should puf 2 to 3 inches above the rim of the dish. To make the collar use a double thickness of buttered foil that will rise three inches over the top of the dish. Secure the collar by inserting a straight pin head down for easy removal. The puff should hold up when you remove the collarjust a little bit to check. If the puff sags, rapidly refasten the collar and bake a few minutes more.

Julia says, “If you want the puff to hold and the souffle to stand a reasonable time, test it by plunging a skewer into the side of the puff: if wet particles cling to it the souffle will be creamy inside and will not hold as long as if the skewer comes out almost clean.  The fateful decision is up to you.”

This recipe is for a one quart baking dish, eight inches across, serving four.

Cheese Souffle Recipe

1 Tablespoons Parmesan, grated
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
1 cup hot milk
1/2 teaspoon paprica
a bit of nutmeg, freshly grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 grinds of white pepper
4 egg yolks
5 egg whites (2/3 cup)
1 cup (3.5 ounces) Swiss cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Set the rack in the lower third of the oven.

Butter the baking dish, and instead of dusting flour over that, roll the Parmesan cheese around to cover the butter on insides of the dish. Then, fasten the aluminum collar as described above.

Over moderate heat in a sauce pan, make the bechamel sauce by melting the butter and stirring in the flour. Remove from the heat and pour in the hot milk. Whisk vigorously to blend.  Return to heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, and boil slowly for 3 minutes until the sauce is very thick. Whisk in the seasonings, and remove from the heat.

One by one, whisk the egg yolks into the hot sauce.

In a clean separate bowl with egg beaters, beat the egg whites to stiff shining peaks.

Scoop a quarter of the egg whits on top of the sauce, and stir them in with a wooden spoon.Put the rest of the egg whites on top and rapidly but delicately fold them in, alternating scoops of the spatula with sprinkles of the Swiss cheese.

Fill the baking dish and set in the preheated oven. Turn down the temperature to 375ºF, and bake 25 to 30 minutes. It should have puffed 2 to 3 inches over the rim of the baking dish, into the collar and be nicely brown.

When it is done, remove the collar and bring the souffle to the table. To serve, hold your serving spoon upright and plunge downward into the middle of the puff, scooping toward the crust.

Yum! Enjoy!

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