Asparagus, pea & goat's cheese souffles
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 50g butter
- 30g walnuts, lightly crushed
- 300g asparagus
- 200g peas (shelled weight)
- 200ml whole milk
- 2 tbsp flour
- 3 eggs
- 100g goats cheese
- sea salt and ground black pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas6. Melt half the butter and brush the insides of 6 ramekin dishes. Sprinkle the walnuts into the dishes. Arrange on a baking sheet and set aside. Cut the asparagus into 1cm pieces, leaving the tips a little longer. Cook with the peas in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and, reserving the asparagus tips, purée the stems and peas to a coarse paste using a hand blender or food processor. Set aside.
- Melt the rest of the butter in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the flour to make a roux and cook for 1min before whisking in the milk. Cook the sauce until thickened and remove from the heat.
- Chop the cheese into cubes and stir through the sauce along with the puréed asparagus and peas. Season generously.
- Separate the eggs, tipping the yolks into the asparagus sauce and the whites into a clean metal bowl. Stir the yolks through the sauce to mix well.
- Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fluffy. Take a large spoon of the egg white and stir it vigorously in the sauce, then pour the sauce into the bowl of egg whites. Fold the sauce very, very gently through the egg whites. Spoon the mixture into the prepared ramekins, push the reserved tips into the top and bake in the oven for 20mins.
- Serve immediately.
