Of Meyer Lemons, Souffles and Romance

There is something exciting about a souffle. The anticipation, the perfect timing, its delicate nature... I would even say there is something romantic about a souffle. Yes, I said it, romantic. Souffle for two is romantic.

This is a roux based souffle, which yields a super creamy interior, almost like a custard. This is the basic recipe I use always, but this time, I flavored it with limoncello and what else but meyer lemon curd. Oh yes, and some pistachio and meyer lemon shortbread cookies. It couldn't be any other way.




It seems like souffle has been on everyone's mind this week (as seen here, here, and here). Maybe Valentine's Day being around the corner has something to do with it? I have to admit that I have never celebrated Valentine's. (I'm sorry all you dreamers and romantics out there), but all these images might have influenced me a bit.

So can you share with me, does souffle speak of romance to you?



Meyer Lemon and Pistachio Shortbread

110 grams butter
30 grams powdered sugar
Zest of 1 large or 2 small meyer lemons
1 Tbs meyer lemon juice
140 grams flour
2 grams fine sea salt
30 grams pistachios, chopped

Cream the butter and powdered sugar until light. Add the zest and juice and mix. Add the flour and salt and mix until combined. Add the chopped pistachios and finish mixing.

Roll dough into a log that is about 2" in diameter. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.

Cut the dough into disks that are about 1/4"-1/2" thick. Bake at 350F for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden.

Lemon Curd

100 grams eggs
35 grams sugar
100 grams meyer lemon juice
Zest of 1 meyer lemon
10 grams butter, room temperature

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, juice and zest. Cook this mixture in a double boiler until it thickens (84C).

Strain into a clean bowl and chill it over an ice bath until it is about body temperature. Add the room temperature butter and mix with a hand blender until an emulsion is form (it will turn a bit lighter in color). Refrigerate until ready to use.

Meyer Lemon Souffle

90 grams butter
110 grams bread flour
400 ml whole milk
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
90 grams sugar
125 grams lemon curd
15 grams of limoncello
Butter, room temperature
Sugar

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the bread flour and cook for about 2 minutes to make a roux. Add the hot milk and whisk It will thicken to a paste. Transfer this mixture to a clean bowl. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, continue mixing the roux base to cool it down slightly before we add the egg yolkd. When steam stops coming off but it is still warm, add the egg yolks one a time and mix.

In the meantime, start whipping the egg whites. When they are medium peaks, start adding the sugar slowly. Whip to stiff peaks.

Add the lemon curd and limoncello to the roux and egg yolk base. Fold in a third of the meringue to the base and mix to lighten it. Add the rest of the meringue and fold gently.

Brush inside of ramekins with room temperature butter and coat the sides with sugar. Fill the ramekins with souffle base almost to the top.

Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes depending on the size of the ramekin.

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Of Meyer Lemons, Souffles and Romance

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Roasted Apple and Vanilla Bean Souffle

When I was a child, one of my most clear memories of autumn and winter was my mom making apple compote. She used to prepare it with whole apples, dried apricots, cinnamon and a tiny bit of sugar. Sometimes she would do it on the stovetop, sometimes in the oven. The entire house would smell of sugar and cinnamon. This is a homage to those flavors.




I baked the apples with tons of vanilla bean specs, brown sugar and butter and then made a puree of them, almost like apple sauce, but richer. The souffle is roux based, which I flavored with the roasted apple puree and calvados. I really like roux based souffles because they result in a pudding-like interior once they are baked. The trick is not to over-bake them.

Roasted Apples

2 fuji apples
1 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Mix butter, brown sugar and vanilla seeds and set aside. Peel and core apples. Fill the center cavity of the apple with the butter and brown sugar mixture. Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes or until apples are soft. Puree the apples and reserve for the souffle.

Roasted Apple Souffle

110 grams bread flour
90 grams unsalted butter
400 ml whole milk
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
90 grams sugar
130 grams roasted apple puree
15 grams calvados or dark rum

Brush the sides of your souffle mold with softened butter. Coat with sugar. Turn the mold over to discard any extra sugar. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the whole milk to a boil. Reserve warm.

In the meantime, whip the egg whites to medium peaks and slowly sprinkle in the sugar. Whip until a medium peak meringue forms. Reserve.

In a medium saucepan melt the butter. Add the bread flour and cook for a minute forming a roux. Pour in the hot milk and whisk until the mixture resembles a bechamel. Transfer this base to a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula for a couple of minutes until it stops steaming but it is still warm. Add the egg yolks and stir until incorporated. Add the roasted apple puree and the calvados or rum. Stir.

Fold a third of the meringue into the roux base and stir vigorously until the base lightens. Now fold the remainder of the meringue but this time, fold gently.

Fill the molds with the souffle mix almost to the top and bake in a 400F oven for about 10-12 minutes depending on the size of the mold. I like the middle of my souffle slightly undercooked so I usually pull it out about 2 minutes after I see that it has fully risen. Serve immediately accompanied by caramel sauce or any other custard or ice cream you would like.



I also wanted to apologize for being absent from your blogs or responding emails. I am still trying to organize my life a bit after the trip and before my parents come to visit. Thank you for your constant support!

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Chocolate Souffle and Rediscovering a Cookbook

A few night ago, I was flipping through some of my pastry books and I decided to pick up "Chocolate Obsession" by Michael Recchiuti and Fran Gage. I have had this book for years but I don't remember ever baking any recipes from it.

I have to admit I have a cookbook addiction, but after I get them, I tend to leave them on the shelf and never really bake from them. I do enjoy photographs and they do bring much inspiration, but I don't usually copy a recipe from a book. However, this time, I was drawn to a chocolate souffle photo. It was beautiful, full of texture, dark, rich. I said, "I have to try this".




I flipped to the recipe page and started reading through it to see what method the authors used. I am very particular about souffle and its consistency. I despise meringue based souffles and most chocolate souffle recipes I see are meringue based. I feel cheated with these... I want a souffle that has a thick, creamy interior and that is why I like my roux or pastry cream base recipes.

I went back to the chocolate souffle photo and saw that this souffle had an incredible texture inside. I had to give it a shot. Marvellous, indeed. The amount of chocolate in the recipe makes it almost like a molten cake but without egg yolks. Of course, no need to say that you must use the best available chocolate because that is what makes this souffle. If the chocolate is poor, then the souffle will be poor.

Just a little note about the book though. The recipe in the book fails to mention one of the steps. It lists the grated chocolate in the ingredient list, but then, it does not mention when or how this chocolate is supposed to be added. No big deal. It was pretty easy to figure out, but I did find that error. I haven't tried any other recipes from it, but I think it is well worth it just for the photography and the food styling.



Chocolate Souffle

130 grams cocoa powder
350 ml water
1 vanilla bean, split
40 grams 70% chocolate, grated
70 grams egg whites
pinch of salt
75 grams sugar

10 grams sugar
20 grams 70% chocolate, grated
softened butter

Brush softened butter over all sides of the ramekins you are going to use. Make sure you brush applying vertical strokes. This will allow the souffle to rise straight up nicely. Mix the grated chocolate and sugar and pour into one ramekin. Turn so all sides are coated with this mixture and dump the excess into the next ramekin. Once they are all coated, refrigerate them until ready to use.

In a medium saucepan, bring the water and the vanilla to a boil. Turn heat off and let it steep for 5 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve it for another use. Return the pan to the heat and bring to another boil. Add half of the cocoa powder into the boiling water and whisk constantly until all the cocoa has been absorbed. Add the rest and whisk constantly for about 3 minutes or until it thickens. Remove from heat and transfer the cocoa paste into a large bowl.

In the meantime, whip the egg whites with the pinch of salt. When they are almost fully whipped, add the sugar slowly, in batches. Let the meringue whip to semi stiff peaks.

Add the meringue into the warm cocoa paste and fold gently until no more white streaks are showing. Fold in the grated chocolate.

Spoon the souffle batter into the ramekins. Fill to the top. Bake in a preheated 350F degree oven until they rise. The time will depend on the size of your ramekins. Serve immediately.

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Souffle

I have been meaning to make souffle for a while. A few days ago my mom and I started talking about our favorite desserts from our childhoods. She mentioned a souffle she used to eat at Restaurante El Cojo, the fine dining restaurant we have in our little town and that has been around for over 70 years. This was the place we used to always go to for any birthday, wedding, anniversary... Hours and hours were spent around the table. We used to sit down to eat at 2pm and wouldn't leave the place until 6 or 7pm. My grandmother Miren and my uncle Jose would sing and sign and play cards... Those are some of the fondest memories I have, around food and surrounded by my family.

My mom was describing this special souffle they used to make there which is a little bit different than what I am making here. I love listening to her talk about her memories. I wish I could sit in front of a big screen in a dark movie theater and watch her life as she grew up with 7 brothers and sisters in my grandparents' patisserie. My mom was the oldest of the 8 children and she remembers so many stories about everybody... It's a pleasure to listen to her speak.

This version of souffle that she remembers so fondly had a thin layer of cake on the bottom with some fruit on top and a meringue souffle on top. She also remembers how they used to serve all the creams, fruit compotes and liquers tableside.

So after talking about this souffle and some of our other favorites, we decided it was time to get hands on and "bake it already!". My mom is not a big fan of peanut butter but I saw it in my pantry yesterday and thought I had to use it for something soon. Today was a cloudy day and for some reason peanut butter and jelly sounded good. Just like grilled cheese sounded good. So she gave in and we made it and she really enjoyed it!




My souffle is a bit different since it's a roux base souffle. I have tried different recipes throughout the years, some of them pastry cream based, some are meringues, but none of them have the texture and density of this one. It's light and cakey and creamy at the same time. Just perfect! I'm really not a big fan of meringue souffles. I feel like I'm being cheated when I get a chocolate souffle that disappears in my mouth. And one final thing about this souffle I love so much is that I like to underbake it by a tiny, tiny bit... maybe 2 minute or so. This makes the center so creamy...

So here it is:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Souffle

Makes 6-8 large ramekins

4 oz (114 grams or 1 stick of butter) organic unsalted butter
4.75 oz (135 grams) unbleached bread flour
1 pint (500 ml) organic whole milk
5 organic egg yolks
5 organic egg whites
4 oz (114 grams) sugar
5 oz (142 grams) organic creamy peanut butter
2 Tbs raspberry liquor

Raspberry Jam
Creme anglaise or vanilla ice cream
Fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With a pastry brush, butter the inside of your ramekins. Pour some granulated sugar in the ramekin and spread it all over while moving the ramekin around. Pour out any excess sugar.

In a small saucepan bring the milk to a boil. Set it aside and keep it warm.

In a medium saucepan, add the butter and the flour and make a roux. Cook for a couple of minutes to make a paste. Add the hot milk and whisk the mixture together until it boils and turns into a homogeneous paste. Transfer this paste into a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until it cools down a little bit, about one minute. Add the egg yolks one at a time and mix them into the paste. Add the peanut butter and stir until well incorporated and most of the lumps have disappeared. Finally add the raspberry liquer to the base.

Make a meringue with the egg whites and the sugar. Fold a third of the meringue into the base and stir. You can be as vigorous as you want now. Fold in the rest of the meringue but be careful not to deflate it too much at this point.

Spoon the souflle mix ito the ramekins and spoon a teaspoon of raspberry jam in the middle. Cover it with some more mix. We want to fill the ramekins almost to the top, about 3/4 of the way.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve right away.



I just ordered some gianduja paste from L'Epicerie a few days ago so I can't wait to make gianduja souffle. Maybe accompanied by some frangelico anglaise.... Hmm....

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Souffle

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