A soufflé may seem like a work of culinary alchemy, but it's really very easy to get right, said Tom Parker Bowles. You just have to make sure everyone is ready to eat when it emerges from the oven, as a soufflé is a dish that waits for no one. This one was often served as a light supper for the late Queen, and is a favourite of King Charles too.
Ingredients:
- 250g undyed smoked haddock
- 300ml full-fat milk
- 150ml single cream
- 50g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 50g plain flour
- 100g parmesan, freshly grated
- 1 tsp dry English mustard powder
- 2 egg yolks, plus 8 egg whites
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 20cm soufflé dish or ovenproof dish with a capacity of 2 litres, greased with butter
Method:
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- Gently poach the haddock in the milk and cream at a gentle simmer over a low-medium heat for about 10 minutes. Remove the fish from the pan, cool slightly and flake, removing any skin and bones. Reserve the milk mixture.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark six.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, add the flour, mix well and cook for a minute, stirring continuously. Add a quarter of the reserved milk and cream mixture, and keep stirring over a medium heat until smooth.
- Add the next quarter of milk, along with half of the cheese and beat until smooth.
- Add the remaining milk and cheese along with the mustard powder and season well with salt and pepper. Mix until the sauce is smooth, then remove from the heat and beat for about one minute to release some of the steam and to cool the sauce slightly.
- Scoop the sauce into a large mixing bowl, add the flaked haddock and egg yolks, and mix to combine.
- In another clean large bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Using a large metal spoon (preferably silver, but never wooden) fold a good spoonful of the egg whites into the sauce to lighten the mixture, and then fold in the remainder, being careful not to knock out too much air.
- Spoon the mixture into the buttered dish and spread level. Place the dish on a baking tray and bake the soufflé in the bottom third of the oven for about 40 minutes until well risen, golden brown, and with a slight wobble in the middle. Serve tout de suite.
Taken from Cooking & The Crown: Royal Recipes from Queen Victoria to King Charles III by Tom Parker Bowles, published by Octopus Books at £30. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £26.99 (incl. p&p), call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.
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