I learned to make soufflé when I was seven. Since then, I’ve picked up a few tricks, but one lesson that’s remained the same for all those years is what my mother taught me: even an imperfect soufflé is still delicious. If your soufflé doesn’t rise proudly or any number of other minor imperfections, not all hope is lost. You’ll still have a great dinner, even if it’s not a photo finish.

Spinach and Cheese Soufflé

Category

Category name

Serves

4-6

That being said, there are a couple of things that will increase your chances of making a perfect soufflé. First and foremost is the whisking of the eggs. I am a huge advocate of whisking by hand, at least until you have the technique committed to memory. When you’re in touch with the process, it makes you a better cook—you learn to feel for changes in a way you’ll completely miss by using a machine.

Once the soufflé is in the oven, you cannot open it to check on things. It’s worth investing in an oven thermometer to know whether yours runs hot or cold.

Ingredients

  • 4½ tablespoons salt
  • 1 bunch spinach, ends trimmed
  • 7 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • ¼ cup fine breadcrumbs
  • 3 tablespoons very finely minced shallot
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 1½ cups milk
  • ½ cup heavy cream or half and half
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 3 ounces finely grated Gruyère, Gouda, or other nutty cheese
  • 1 ounce finely grated parmesan cheese
  • 7 egg whites
  • ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar

Method

Preheat oven to 375°F.

To Prepare the Spinach

  1. Completely submerging the spinach in a large bowl or sink filled with cold water to soak for 5-10 minutes, agitating the water periodically. Fully drain, rinse out the bowl or sink you were using, and repeat. (There’s no need to dry the spinach as you’ll be blanching and shocking it.) Remove the spinach and set aside, but don’t do this by dumping the bowl into a colander, as the sand usually settles to the bottom and will get mixed in with your greens again!
  2. In a 4-quart stockpot, bring 2 quarts of water and 2½ tablespoons salt to a boil. Set up a metal mixing bowl with 1 quart of water, 1 quart of ice, and 1 tablespoon salt.
  3. When the water reaches a full rolling boil, dunk the spinach in, and cook until the stems become tender (30 to 60 seconds), then remove it to the ice water using a spider. Make sure that the spinach is fully submerged in the ice and allow it to cool completely before removing and squeezing out the water with your hands. Your final spinach should weigh about 6 ounces and be roughly the size of a baseball when all the water is squeezed out. Reserve the shocking water for the next step.
  4. Divide the spinach in half, and roughly chop one half. Add the other half to a blender, along with four to six tablespoons of the shocking water, or enough to get the spinach to move freely and fully purée. Blend on high until the spinach is very smooth and consistent, about 1 minute. Remove and set aside.

To Prepare the Soufflé Mold

  1. Brush a 2-quart soufflé mold with 2 tablespoons of room temperature butter. Add breadcrumbs, shaking and turning the mold so each side is evenly coated. Pour out any excess crumbs.

To Make the Roux

  1. In a small saucepan, melt remaining 5 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.  Add shallot and cook until translucent, 1to 2 minutes. Add flour and whisk vigorously to combine, allowing the flour to get just the slightest bit of blonde color, 2 to 3 minutes.
  2. Slowly whisk in the milk and cream or half and half to avoid lumps. Add all of milk and turn the heat to medium low and allow to simmer, whisking periodically to prevent scorching. When the sauce is slightly thickened, after 5 to 6 minutes, remove from heat and scrape into a shallow metal mixing bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of the salt, pepper, cayenne, and nutmeg and whisk briefly to cool. Once cool, whisk in the chopped and puréed spinach.
  3. When the batter is no longer hot, whisk in egg yolks one at a time, whisking rapidly after each addition.

To Prepare the Egg Whites

  1. In a metal mixing bowl, begin to whisk the egg whites. When the egg whites are foamy, after approximately 30 seconds of whisking, add a pinch of cream of tartar, which helps keep the whites from deflating. Continue whisking until soft peaks form. Carefully continue whisking just a few more seconds until stiff, almost shiny peaks have formed. You should be able to pull your whisk up out of the egg whites to make a peak whose shape does not fall (like a mountain). You will know if you’ve gone past the optimal stage if the whites begin to release clear liquid or break apart from each other rather than being a cohesive mass. If this happens, and you’ve over-whipped your egg whites, I recommend continuing to follow the instructions and release yourself from judgement. The soufflé will still taste great—it just won’t be as tall. Next time, you will have a better idea of when to stop whisking those egg whites. Even seasoned chefs sometimes over-beat egg whites.
  2. Fold the cheeses into the egg yolk and spinach mix.
  3. Scoop approximately one-third of the whipped egg whites out of the mixing bowl and place them into the egg yolk and spinach mixture. You want to use a light hand to retain as much air as you can, but you also want this part fully mixed. This lightens your thick base significantly and allows you to more evenly mix in the remaining two-thirds of the whipped egg whites.  Thoroughly mix with a rubber spatula to fully incorporate and lighten the base mixture.
  4. Fold in all of the remaining whites. It is acceptable to have some white streaks still, which is far better than over mixing.

To Bake the Soufflé

  1. Pour the batter into the prepared soufflé bowl. Bake, undisturbed (do not open the door!), on the middle rack until a thermometer inserted in the center reads 180°F (as you gain experience with this recipe, you’ll be able to tell when your soufflé is done by how high it rises, and then you can retire the thermometer), 45 to 50 minutes. Serve immediately.