Souffle Provencal

Froth



I've loved soufflés for as long as I can remember, my mother made them fairly often when I was a child and I recall a feeling of wonder at the way they puffed and browned magically becoming a toasted yellow mushroom. I also recall wonder at their ethereal texture and rich goodness of egg and cheese -- flavors somehow transformed to something better than eggs and cheese ordinarily are, a flavor as ethereal as the texture.

For some reason, though, making soufflés didn't come easily to me. I just couldn't get them to puff properly. I tried every trick in the books. And then I tried combinations of tricks but that impressive loft that makes a soufflé so stunning eluded me.

Then one day I was reading a recipe in one of those women's magazine encyclopedias and a single phrase caught my attention: "…casually fold in remaining whites." Casually! My folding was far from casual as I earnestly attempted to produce a smooth, homogenous mixture and in doing so I was destroying bubbles with the abandon of a logger clear-cutting. That is what I had been doing wrong.

The recipe itself was unusual consisting of a chunky tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish with the soufflé floating on top. It's also delicious and though I've long since lost the original recipe, I still make something like it. For this particular version I added prosciutto to the recipe.

Soufflé Provençal

Sauce:
1 ea 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 c carrot -- finely diced
1/4 c celery -- finely diced
1/4 c onion -- diced
1 clove garlic, large -- minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried herbes de province
1/4 c white wine
salt
1 pinch crushed red pepper
Soufflé:
3 tbsp sweet butter
Additional butter to grease dish
3 tbsp unbleached flour
1 c whole milk – at room temperature
4 ea egg yolks
4 ea egg whites – at room temperature
1/2 c grated manchego
2 oz proscuito about 1/8" thick
1/4 c finely grated parmesan
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper

Sauce:
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, salt, and herbs and sautè until softened. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add wine and increase heat to medium high. Reduce wine by 1/2 and add tomatoes, including juice. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until most liquid has evaporated. Taste, adjust seasoning, and allow to cool.

Soufflé:
Heat oven to 425F. Grease soufflé dish with butter and dust with parmesan.

Mince proscuito until very fine in a food processor.

Melt 3 tbsp butter over medium low heat, add flour, and cook for five minutes stirring constantly. Mix in mustard. Add milk and continue stirring until thickened. Add salt and pepper. Add in yolks, one at a time, whisking constantly to prevent the yolks from curdling. Stir in cheese and melt. Add proscuito and mix thoroughly. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Beat egg whites to medium stiff peaks. Thoroughly fold 1/3 of whites into sauce mixture. Casually fold mixture back into remaining whites. Pour tomato sauce into bottom of soufflé dish. Pour soufflè mixture on top, place in oven, reduce heat to 375F, and bake 40 to 45 minutes depending on how well done you like your soufflés. Don’t open the oven for the first 20 minutes! Serves 4.

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