I hate going to a restaurant and ordering a chocolate souffle and getting one of those molten lava cakes which I guess is a sort of chocolate souffle cake but not really. The picture to the left is what a chocolate souffle is supposed to look like. I made one last night and it’s not hard.
The recipe: It’s a 1/2 cup of milk with 2tbs of sugar, with a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and sift in 2tbs of flour. Add 1/3 cup of melted chocolate over a double boiler, bittersweet, I use Scharffen Berger. Cook for a few minutes.
Take away from the fire and add 2 egg yolks, a 2tps of butter. In a separate bowl, beat 3 egg whites until it forms peaks, fold in the mixture. (Be careful here not to deflate the egg whites). Put in souffle dish quickly. Pop in the oven 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve immediately.
Serve with creme anglaise or a raspberry coulis, and a dark chocolate sauce.
It’s a light dish and it’s off the chart. Grand Marnier souffle is another classic. Have to try that next.
I’ve been making my own food, I just haven’t been writing down the recipes as it’s been a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Anyway, we’ve been getting a lot of butternut squash in our box lately so here’s an awesome recipe I whipped up for it. It’s not really a souffle and it’s not bread pudding either but it was pretty darn tasty, light and filling at the same time as weird as that may sound.
Ingredients:
- 1 large butternut squash
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup milk or soy milk
- tablespoon of melted butter
- 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs
- salt and pepper to taste
- good olive oil
Split the butternut squash, take out the seeds, sprinkle olive oil, salt and pepper and put in oven for 45 minutes on 325 degrees. Butternut squash should be face side down. Let it cool once that’s done.
Scoop out the squash and put in a bowl. Put in the rest of the ingredients and mix everything in, eggs, milk, etc. Give it a good mix and make sure everything is incorporated in there.
Put the mixture in ramekins, small if you want it as a sidedish, a bit larger if you want to make it the main course. Put in the oven on 350 for 20 minutes until it makes a nice crust on top.
Serve with fresh rosemary and maybe a side salad of arugula tossed with olive oil/vinegar maybe some blue cheese and walnuts. Done.
Serves 4.
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Rachel Ray watch your back.
Everyone should know how to make lasagne. This one is special because it’s a Zachary’s pizza style lasagne where the tomato sauce is on top. It’s awesome.
Ingredients:
- lasagne pasta – Rustichella d’Abruzzo if possible
- 1 16 oz can of San Marnzano plum tomatoes* (don’t skimp here)
- 1 small can of tomato sauce
- 1 lb of ricotta cheese (optional)
- 1 lb of mozarella (grate fresh yourself)
- a package of spinach
- a cup of sliced brown mushrooms
- a shot of vodka
- 1 egg
- a tablespoon of butter
- 4-5 green onions or 1 small onion
- 3 – 4 cloves of garlic
- a tablespoon of olive oil
- a tablespoon of basil and tablespoon of oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
I’m not into exact ingredients those are just ballpark.
Boil water and cook the pasta. Saute onions and then garlic in olive oil for 2- 3 minutes. Chop up tomatoes and put in tomatoes and sauce. Don’t bring to a boil, just keep on medium. Add vodka and basil and oregno and salt and pepper to taste. Crack egg into ricotta cheese and mix in.
Now the important part. Once you’ve let the pasta cool, put one layer down on the pan. Add the spinach, mushrooms, ricotta cheese, and mozarella cheese. Put another layer of pasta down. Then put the sauce on top.
Put in the oven for 35 – 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Done. Add sausage, ground beef, whatever to the bottom layer to mix it up a bit. The key is to put the sauce on top and let the melted cheese lock-in the flavors below.
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* The San Marzano tomatoes are what makes Zachary’s pizza have that slight sour (good) taste.
