Making a Soufflé has always been kind of tricky for me up till now. I've made some disaster soufflés in the past, yet I keep on trying, because I have this thing about giving up on recipes. The thought of making a soufflé came to me when my Mom and Dad arrived with some Smoked Snoek from the West Coast. My family is not keen on eating snoek because this fish has so many bones. So whenever I use snoek, I use it in de-boned and flaked form.....

I have given some information on Snoek in a previous post, so I will not bore you with the same information twice. What I do want to share with you is this:  My soufle did not rise nearly as much as I would have wanted it to rise, but for a dufus like me, someone came up with the genius plan to double bake a soufflé and that has made   my life so much simpler...

Soufflé with Smoked Snoek and Goat's Cheese

Ingredients
300g smoked snoek, skinned and flaked
500ml milk
1 tbsp olive oil
200g small leeks, trimmed and finely chopped
Salt/black pepper
65g butter
40g plain flour
6 eggs, separated
80g goat's cheese,crumbled
50g Parmesan, freshly grated

Method

Heat the oil in a small saucepan and sweat the leeks with salt and pepper for about 8 minutes, until soft and translucent. Keep one side with the flaked fish and leave to cool.

Soften 25g of the butter and use to brush the insides of a large soufflé dish, approximately 22 x 10cm deep or individual ramekins, using upward strokes. Chill to set. Preheat the oven to 200C.

Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan and stir in half of the flour with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat, stir well, then cook for about 1 minute over a low heat, stirring. Repeat with the remaining flour. Gradually stir in the heated milk and cook until you have a thick sauce. Remove from the heat and cool for 3-4 minutes.

Beat the egg yolks into the sauce, followed by the goat's cheese, which will melt into the mixture. Fold in the fish and leeks, taking care not to break up the fish, and check for seasoning.

Whisk the egg whites in a grease-free bowl untill it forms stiff peaks, then whisk a few tbsp of the whites into the soufflé base. Carefully fold in the rest until evenly incorporated. Spoon the mixture into the prepared soufflé dish and level the top. Sprinkle with the Parmesan, then bake on a baking sheet in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes.
Serbe immidiately with a simple side salad!

Double-baked Soufflé

2 tbsp cream per soufflé
about 125ml grated parmesan
chopped parsley

The soufflés can be baked in advance and kept. When you are ready to serve, simply unmould the  soufflés and place each soufflé in a small plate. Pour the cream over the top, finish off with grated parmesan and bake in the oven for about 10min. Serve!

I am sending this recipe over to  my good-friend-with-the-heart-of-gold Tandy. She is running a Souffle Challenge on her blog, ending tonight at midnight!