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A hot raspberry soufflé should always rise to the occasion |
Always rising to the occasion
Reward yourself after a stressful day with some home-cooked food. Here Clare Latimer serves up a delicious, hot raspberry soufflé
I WENT to Ireland last weekend for a birthday party and hoped that when I left home I could totally relax.
Well, Ryan Air put paid to that.
When you are airborne the aisle becomes a racing track with food trolleys, duty free, scratch cards and raffle tickets.
The poor stewards come galloping past and the overtaking nudges firmly into the aisle seats.
If you land on time you get a fanfare to congratulate themselves for their prompt arrival.
All I got was a bad back from the heavy landing but at least we arrived. But onwards to the stunning Delphi Lodge where I was served the following recipes which I have copied.
Mussels in fennel
Make sure that the mussels are very fresh and come from a reliable source. The rule is that if they are open before cooking discard them and if they are shut when cooked discard them. The best way of eating them is to use one of the shells as pinchers and then put empty shells into a communal plate on the table. Then use a spoon and bread to soak up the juices at the end.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1kg fresh mussels with shells
1 desp olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
½ fresh fennel, cut into tiny cubes
A large sprig of fresh 15g butter
1 wine glass white wine
Fresh ground salt and pepper
150ml double cream.
Method
Rinse the mussels well and then scrub off any barnacles from their shells. Remove the “beards” – the stringy bits and then check that they are all closed tight.
Heat the butter and olive oil in a large heavy based saucepan and then add the onion, garlic and fennel. Cook gently for about five minutes or until soft. Add the white wine and turn up the heat. When bubbling toss in all the mussels and cover with a lid. Toss once or twice to cook evenly.
When all the shells are open then season with salt and pepper and add the parsley and cream. Cover with lid and toss again.
Serve immediately.
Hot raspberry soufflé
For any of you who remember my article about Bicerin (a rich chocolate liquor) and have some in your booze cupboard, you could open up the cooked soufflé at the table and pour in a little into the middle of the hot soufflé.
This would make a dream come true!
Ingredients
250g raspberries
125g caster sugar,
plus a little extra
Little butter
3 egg whites
25g dark chocolate, grated
1 tbsp cornflour
Icing sugar for finishing.
Method
Put the raspberries into a medium size, heavy-based saucepan with 50g of the sugar and a teaspoon of water. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and blend in a liquidizer. Sieve the mixture to make a smooth puree, not wasting any of the fruit from the underneath of the sieve.
Put the saucepan of puree over a gentle heat. Mix the cornflour with a little water until it becomes runny, then add this to the puree, stirring continuously until the puree becomes quite thick. Set aside.
Put the remaining sugar into a small saucepan with enough water just to cover it.
Heat until the mixture reaches the “soft ball” stage on a sugar
thermometer. Remove from the heat, add to the raspberry puree and stir well until smooth.
Let the puree cool completely.
Preheat the oven 190C/ 375F/gas 5. Grease the inside of eight ramekin dishes with the butter and then coat the butter with extra caster sugar.
Whisk up the egg whites until stiff and then whisk in a tablespoon of caster sugar.
Fold into the raspberry mixture along with the grated chocolate and then quickly spoon the mixture into the prepared ramekins and level them off with a knife.
Clean the edges with a cloth or finger! Put the soufflés on a baking tray into the oven for
8-10 minutes.
Once they are well risen, take them out, dust with icing sugar and serve immediately. |
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