Cheese Soufflé

Prepare the Soufflé dish

1. Remove the crusts from the bread and cut into cubes. Place these into a food processor with a good few grates of parmesan, and some ground black pepper. Blitz to fine bread-crumbs.
2. Grease the Soufflé dish with a good layer of unsalted butter. Tip the breadcrumbs into the dish and swirl around to coat all of the insides. Place in the fridge to set up until needed.

To make the Bechamel sauce

1. Add the bay leaves and cloves to a small saucepan with all the milk. Bring up to just below the boil over a low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and leave in the pan to cool and infuse. Once cool, tip the milk into a jug by passing through a sieve to remove the cloves and bay leaves.
2. Melt the butter in a wide saucepan (a curved sided sauté dish is ideal) over a medium heat until it sizzles. Add the flour and mix with a wooded spoon until combined and there are no lumps. Cook this roux until it appears to slightly ‘dry-out’.
3. Add the milk, prepared earlier, a little at a time, stirring all the while with a balloon whisk. Cook it in, still whisking until you have a thick-ish, glossy bechamel.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the grated cheese. Once this has melted, add the dijon mustard and season well with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning as required. You do need it to be quite strong at this stage as the flavour will be diluted by the egg-white later.
5. Tip the cheesy bechamel into a bowl large enough to mix in the whole Soufflé and set to one side to cool slightly.

To make the Soufflé

1. Preheat the oven to 220℃. Place a steel baking tray on the bottom shelf of the oven.
2. Clean out the bowl of the stand mixer with some lemon juice to remove any possible traces of fat. Add a few drops of lemon juice to the bottom of the bowl to help stabilise the egg-whites as they are being whisked.
3. Add the egg-whites to the bowl and, using the whisk attachment, whisk at a medium speed until frothy, then increase to maximum speed and whisk until the egg-white has reached its maximum volume. Do not allow the egg whites to separate.
4. While the egg-whites are being done, put the egg yolks into the bowl with the bechamel and whisk vigorously to combine.
5. Using a spatula or a metal spoon, add about a third of the egg-white mixture to the bechamel and stir to combine. This will lighten the bechamel and allow the next stage of ‘folding-in’ to work better.
6. Fold in the remaining egg-whites until you have a well-mixed, but still very light and airy mixture. Using the spatula pour this mixture into the Soufflé dish you prepared earlier.
7. Place the filled dish into the centre of the hot oven on top of the baking tray. Turn the heat down to 200℃ and bake for 25-minutes. After 20-minutes, keep checking to see if the Soufflé is done. Be careful not to burn the top. Under no circumstances open the oven until the Soufflé is completely cooked or it will deflate!
8. Once cooked, remove from the oven and take to table for serving immediately. Delicious with some crusty bread and a glass of home-brewed Pale Ale or White wine. Enjoy!

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