Trust Martha (spinach and cheese souffle)

On Christmas morning I opened a cookbook that was only French food. My favorite aunt proclaimed 'I want a souffle before you go back to Ireland'.

Gulp.

I had never made one before. I had never tasted one before. Heck, I had never even seen one outside of a book. I had heard, however, that they can be tricky to get right. And there wasn't a souffle recipe in the cookbook she'd just given me. Huh.

A few days later I headed to search a used book store for a copy of 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' by Julia Child, and while I didn't get what I was looking for, I did see a section with books by Martha Stewart. After snooping, I picked up this one. And she covered souffles.

Now I've never been a huge Martha fan. I think she is incredibly creative but for some reason I never took a keen interest in trying out her recipes or crafts or decorating or any of the millions of things she does. But she did give good, clear, step-by-step instructions to guide me through my first souffle. And believe it or not, it worked.

Now all I am able to do is tell you about this. I left the cookbook in Calgary (I buy things at home then leave them there as a temptation to get me to move back sooner. Hmm ... hasn't worked yet ...) but I'm telling you that they are seriously easy. And, in my opinion, the perfect brunch idea.

I did find a similar recipe on Martha's website which looks pretty much like the recipe I used, except I used cheddar instead of Gruyere cheese. And one tip that was in the book that isn't in the recipe is that once you butter and dust the dish with the breadcrumbs, chill the dish before you pour the souffle filling in. I'm not sure if its important or not, but it was part of the instructions and mine turned out pretty great.

It didn't take too long to throw together, and like with Yorkshire puddings, it is important to have the oven heated before putting the souffle in and very important to make sure the oven is left closed until you think its finished.

We had a few of my mom's friends over for lunch and this is what I made. One of her friends has had souffle before and said it was just like one she'd had in a restaurant. I thought that was pretty good considering I was going in blind. We had it with baked potatoes and a salad (not pictured) and it was delish!

In the souffle I made, I dusted the dish with grated Parmesan cheese instead of the breadcrumbs in the recipe I've linked above and it was pretty tasty.

So tell me, have you tried a souffle? Have you made one before?


Peace,

Jenn x