Leek souffle is a dish we often make if we have guests coming over. It takes a bit of effort, but the end result is really impressive and it isn’t as difficult as it looks, plus you’ll be amazed at how far 5 eggs stretch! It’s also really quite cheap to make, providing you already have an electric whisk (but don’t bother buying one especially!). We eat it with boiled or roast potatoes, and a green vegetable.
Ingredients (serves 3 or 4 depending on appetite)
4 or 5 eggs (£1.45)
2 biggish or 4 smallish leeks (£1.50) (or around 250g mushrooms with some garlic also yummy), in slices
30g butter (25p)
40g flour (10p) – most types work
Half pint milk (35p) – soya works fine too
Salt/pepper (10p)
Any nice fresh green herbs if you happen to have them
COST: £3.75
Cook the leeks on a very low heat in about 5g of the butter while you make a white sauce.
To make the sauce first melt the rest of the butter then remove from the heat and mix in the flour. Add a very small amount of the milk and mix until it forms a consistent paste. Continue adding the milk a little at a time and mixing carefully, only adding more milk when the texture is consistent. Once the mixture starts to get quite thin put back on the heat and add the milk more quickly, stirring all the time. The heat can be gradually increased (but don’t go too hot). After a while the sauce should noticeably thicken at which point it’s best to decant it into a large mixing bowl (providing you’ve got more than one!) to cool.
Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a large mixing bowl and place the yolks in the sauce mixing them in after adding each one (if the sauce is still hot you may want to keep the yolks on one side for now and add them at a later stage). Add the leeks to the sauce, and season (adding the herbs if you’ve got any). Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. If you haven’t yet added the yolks to the sauce do so now. Add a large tablespoon’s worth of the whisked egg white to the sauce and mix in thoroughly. Now add the rest of the whisked egg whites and gently fold it in with a large spoon until it is all incorporated (you don’t want to release too much of the air from the whites doing this, but providing you aren’t too rigorous it should be fine).
Pour into a 3 or 4 pint dish (you could grease it beforehand if being thorough!) and cook on gas mark 5. It will take at least 30 minutes to cook and is best checked after 30 minutes and every 10 or so minutes beyond if not yet done. If it’s cooked through then a skewer (or knife) pushed into the souffle should come out clean (i.e. not wet).
Eat!
Posted by Rosie and Tim