TFF: Raspberry Soufflé
I had never been that interested in making a soufflé. I guess I’ve always equated it with stress from lingering memories of my Mom attempting soufflé when I was growing up. It was such a big deal to “stay away from the oven and be quiet!” like any sort of noise above the decibel level of a whisper would find it’s way into the oven and punch the soufflé’s lights out. From what I can remember, most of my Mom’s attempts started with a lot worry and ended with an “awww, shit!”. Not my kind of thing.
Lately though, I’ve gotten to the point where I’m beginning to naturally branch outside of my normal baking zone. Things that didn’t appeal to me before are suddenly standing out to me in different ways. I crave stuff I didn’t even think I liked and I find I give second chances to things I’ve tried in the past and wasn’t crazy about. So when I had some leftover raspberries to use, I got to looking around and stumbled on this Raspberry Soufflé. My first instinct was to pass it over, and I did do just that… but then I came back to it for a second look.
Soufflés are pretty interesting actually, I’ll share what I’ve learned. The word soufflé translates from French to basically meaning “puffed up” in English. There’s only two main components: Egg white foam that expands to give height and a base (like a sauce, puree, etc) that provides all of the flavor. The traditional baking dish is a small round dish like a ramekin. The ramekin is buttered and prepped with a dry ingredient (sugar in this case) to give the soufflé something to “climb up” on it’s rise to the top. Pretty cool.
Even though this was my first experience, I didn’t seem to have any problems with this recipe. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that my soufflés had browned and risen nicely. But that didn’t last too long, once out of the oven I had to photograph them fast as I could visibly see them deflating with each picture that I took. This is, of course, a serve and eat immediately type of dessert. Fine by me!
The raspberry flavor was pronounced, overall the dish wasn’t too sweet and I liked how the top of the soufflé was a totally different texture and color than the inside. The top was like the crust of a cake while the inside was purplish and gooey, but airy at the same time. I’m glad I ventured into this kind of baking territory and want to try another one again soon, maybe savory next time.
On another note… I’m curious, how many of you do this with your eggs?
Do you take your eggs from all over the place in the carton when you’re baking like I do? Or do you take them out in some kind of order?
Tyler Florence’s Raspberry Soufflé
Show: Food 911 Episode: Fallen Souffle in Topanga CA
4/5 stars from foodnetwork reviews
Cook Time: 40 min Level: Intermediate Yield: 4 servings
1 tablespoon unsalted butter plus more for greasing
3/4 cup granulated sugar plus more for dusting molds
1 pint pureed raspberries
4 eggs, separated
Pinch cream of tartar
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Directions Here!
Raspberry Soufflés are my sixth post for Tyler Florence Fridays, a group with the freedom to make any recipe of Tyler’s that they choose and then share their experiences every Friday.
My Kitchen, My World: Mexico
This week, the My Kitchen, My World group went to Mexico to find culinary inspiration. I went to Mexico on a cruise back in January of 2003 and we went to Cozumel on one of our stops. Talk about the most beautiful beaches and crystal blue water I have ever seen, it was amazing. I’m used to gray oceans around here where I live. 
I had to think for a while about what I would choose to make this week. I knew I would not be able to post on Saturday like I was supposed to due to timing issues. So I decided to wait until Sunday morning and make a common Mexican breakfast – Huevos Rancheros.
Huevos Rancheros translates to “Eggs Ranch Style”. Common versions consist of fried corn tortillas, a tomato based sauce and fried eggs. It’s a dish that I’ve never had before. One of my best friends eats Huevos Rancheros every Saturday at a popular local Mexican place so I decided this challenge was the perfect time for me to try it out for myself.
The sauce is probably the most complex thing to make in this dish and it’s not even hard. The recipe I used called for charring the tomatoes, onion and pepper before pureeing in a blender with a little salt and garlic. The tortillas are fried two at a time for about 30 seconds each. The eggs were cooked over medium heat for about 3 to 4 minutes. Then everything is put together and covered with some cheese and a little cilantro. Nothing to it really. This doesn’t have to just be a breakfast meal either.
Um, excuse the chip in my plate. Thanks.
I ended up using the Huevos Rancheros recipe in the big yellow Gourmet cookbook. I found a simplified version online at Epicurious that is worth checking out:
Click here for Gourmet’s Huevos Rancheros Recipe
Things I learned this week: I fried an egg for the first time ever (I think). Usually I just scramble them. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not much of a cook (I’ve always been partial to baking) so a lot of these techniques coming up in the future will probably be new to me. Just like cooking a whole chicken was last week – which I cooked and served upside down but hey… whatever.
Also, I HATE cilantro. I really do. It’s like the Seinfeld where Newman is forced to eat broccoli, he spits it out and exclaims “VILE WEED!”. That’s EXACTLY how I feel about cilantro. The taste and the smell just put me off. But anyway, I put the hate aside and used it in this recipe and it made it through ok.
Thanks to Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies who chose Mexico for all of us. Make sure you stop by her blog to check out her Mexican meal. And then stop by the My Kitchen, My World site to see everyone else’s.
On another note:
Susan of She’s Becoming doughMESStic who created the My Kitchen, My World blog event has also recently began Operation Baking Gals, a group that will bake monthly and send the baked goods overseas to troops stationed in Iraq.
About a week ago, Susan put out a call for help from fellow bloggers to help her bake enough goodies to send to her cousin stationed in Iraq and all of his troop mates. Within a few hours, she got such a tremendous response from people willing to help her out that she decided to create Operation Baking GALS (Give a Little Support) in order to keep it going to send homebaked goodness to other troops as well. The VERY FIRST package of cookies have been received by the soldiers and you can see the post with pictures over at the Operation Baking Gals site. I’m excited for Susan, this is amazing!!
If you’d like to join in, stop by Operation Baking Gals to sign up!
First Barefoot Bloggers Recipe: Herbed-Baked Eggs
Tara of Smells Like Home has started hosting a new online event called Barefoot Bloggers. This bi-weekly event has different members choosing recipe selections from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa. This is such a great idea, Ina has so many wonderful recipes to choose from.
Now, not all selections will be baking and sweets related, which is actually kind of nice because I feel like I’ve been on a sugar high since starting this blog. And yeah, I know that some of these kind of recipes will go against the name “Something Sweet” but that’s ok. You could say it’s “Something Schweeet!” instead for posts where I don’t write about sugary things I’ve made. 
Anyway, I love Ina Garten. I recently expressed my admiration for her on a post for Coconut Cupcakes that I made for my Mom on Mother’s Day. I own all of her books and have already made a lot of her recipes in the past but there are still many more that I want to try. So when I saw the announcement for Barefoot Bloggers event starting up, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to join. Plus, I’ve always been more of a baker than a cook so I figure these challenges have the potential to get me in the kitchen more to make actual dinners for me and the Boyfriend.
The first selection was Herbed-Baked Eggs chosen by Tara herself.
Um… yum! This side view reminds me of an Egg McMuffin.
This recipe was super easy, there was barely anything to it. The taste was excellent. The only changes I made were using dried herbs instead of fresh and baking them in ramekins instead of gratin dishes. My advice would be that if you don’t have gratin dishes and use ramekins instead, broil for a few extra minutes. Unless you like your eggs barely done.
What a great beginning to the Barefoot Bloggers! Thanks, Tara for deciding to start this up. I can’t wait to try out June’s selections:
Pasta, Pesto and Peas chosen by Elizabeth of Ugg Smell Food and Parmesan Chicken chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures.
Make sure to stop by here to see how the other member’s Herbed-Baked Eggs turned out!
Barefoot Contessa’s Herbed-Baked Eggs
from the book Barefoot in Paris
featured on Barefoot Contessa episode Bringing the Magic Home
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
6 extra-large eggs
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Toasted French bread or brioche, for serving
Click here for Directions!
