Recipes

Cheese soufflés with pear and walnut salad

Cheese soufflés with pear and walnut salad. Photograph: Donal Skehan

Donal Skehan
Fri Nov 18 2016 - 12:00
Serves: 6
Course: Starter
Cooking Time: 1 hr 0 mins
Ingredients
  • Serves 6
  • 40g butter, plus extra to grease
  • 40g self-raising flour, plus extra to grease
  • 340ml milk
  • 1 small onion, cut in half
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 black peppercorns
  • Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
  • 200g Knockdrinna cheese, rind removed and grated (or use any hard goat’s cheese)
  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • For the pear salad:
  • 100g walnut halves
  • 3 firm ripe pears
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

These make a very elegant cheese course and are quite easy to prepare. You can make them ahead of time and they will puff up again when you place them back in the oven.

Preheat an oven to 180 Celsius/gas 4. Grease and flour six small ramekin dishes.

Pour the milk into a small pan and add the onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and grated nutmeg. Slowly bring to a steady simmer, then remove from the heat and strain into a jug.

Melt the butter in a small pan and add the flour to make a roux, whisking until it is combined. Slowly add the warm milk until you have added it all and are left with a thick white sauce.Transfer the sauce to a mixing bowl, then whisk in the egg yolks and three-quarters of the cheese.

Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy and forming soft peaks, then gradually fold these in with the cheese and yolk mix.

Divide the mixture among the ramekins and place them in a roasting tin. Pour boiling water around the base of the ramekins and place in the oven for 15 minutes, the soufflés are well risen and lightly golden.

Allow them to cool slightly and then remove the soufflés from the ramekins and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Cover with clingfilm and chill for up to 24 hours. To finish cooking the soufflés, remove them from the fridge while you preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/gas 4. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top (or just top with a thin slice of the cheese) and return to the oven for about five minutes, until they have puffed back up and are heated through.

Meanwhile, make the pear salad. Toast the walnuts in a baking dish for about 10 minutes, until lightly golden. Leave to cool a little and then roughly chop them. Using a mandolin or very sharp knife, cut the pear into wafer-thin slices and toss in the lemon juice to prevent discolouration. Add some salt and pepper and set aside until you are ready to serve.

Cover each plate with a layer of slightly overlapping pear slices and drizzle with olive oil. Put a soufflé into the centre of each plate and add a grinding of black pepper. Scatter over the walnuts and serve.

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