As a child I didn’t like cauliflower and I remember that my mom used to make cauliflower soufflé at home and I hated it. As years went by though, I actually started to fall in love with it and now I really do like it. So I wanted to go back to that familiar taste and make a cauliflower soufflé, with the addition of some delicious cheeses.
Soufflés are a ton of fun. They’re fluffy, tasty, and there’s just something magical about them. Let me know if you also want to learn how to make sweet soufflés.
It’s really hard to take a photo of soufflés because in the first minute they’re of of the oven they start to deflate. Still yummy and extremely beautiful, though.
If you’re like me a few years ago and don’t like cauliflower then you can change it for another vegetable. Zucchini would work lovely too. You could also just make it a cheese soufflé and I promise you’ll love it.
Ingredients
For the cauliflower
- 250 g cauliflower florets
- 20 ml olive oil
- to taste salt and pepper
For the soufflés
- 50 g butter + more to butter the moulds
- 50 g all purpose flour
- 500 ml milk
- 60 g Gruyère cheese
- 60 g Parmesan cheese
- 2 egg yolks
- to taste salt and pepper
- 4 egg whites
- 2 extra egg yolks
Instructions
For the cauliflower
- Cook the cauliflower florets with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper in the oven at 180C for about 30min or until soft.
- Chop finely.
For the soufflés
- Butter the moulds with melted butter making upward motions with your brush so it helps the soufflé go up. Keep in the fridge until needed.
- Melt the butter from the recipe and add the flour. Let boil for 1 minute while stirring with a whisk.
- Add the milk little by little of the heat and whisk it so no lumps form.
- Put back onto the heat and let boil for a minute so you know you've reached its maximum thickness. Taste to make sure it doesn't taste like flour anymore. If it does, let it boil some more, always stirring.
- Add the grated cheese and let it melt. Correct salt level.
- Add 2 egg yolks and whisk rapidly.
- Transfer mix to another bowl, mixing every so often so a skin doesn't form.
- Use a stand or hand mixer to whip up the egg whites.
- Add the egg yolks to the mix and then half the egg whites. Mix roughly.
- Fold in the other half of the egg whites to preserve as much air as possible.
- Fill your ramekins or large mould until about 0.5cm from the top or to the inner rim.
- Take to a preheated oven at 180C for 10-15min or until fully risen and golden. If it's a large mould it could take an extra 10min.
- Serve IMMEDIATELY because it starts to deflate from the moment it comes out of the oven.