Cheese soufflé – Twice baked Fourme d’Ambert

Fourme d’Ambert comes from an area around the Puy-de Dôme mountain in the Auvergne region where it was born, it’s said, some 2000 years ago, making it one of France’s oldest cheeses. The Gaulish druids, according to legend, were very fond of it. The cows are milked at 600 to 1,600 metres above sea level, which helps to give the cheese a subtle, delicate flavour. It is aged for around four weeks in cool, damp cellars after holes are poked in it to air the paste and enable the mould to grow. No ordinary Cheese soufflé recipe this. It’s a twice baked Fourme d’Ambert soufflé recipe by Adam Bennett, chef director at The Cross at Kenilworth, England.

Ingredients – Makes 14 as a starter

30g butter
30g plain flour
300g milk
200g Fourme d’Ambert
2 egg yolks
260g egg whites
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
Ramekins lined with butter and fine breadcrumbs

Method

Melt the butter, then add the the flour and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes

Line the ramekins with butter and fine breadcrumbs.

Whisk in half the milk, bring to the boil, whisking all the time.

Add the rest of the milk and reboil, whisking all the time, remove from the heat and add the Fourme d’Ambert whisk in until melted and smooth then add the yolks off the heat.

Set aside at room temperature covered with cling film.

Whisk the egg whites with the salt, sugar and lemon juice to a soft peak then fold into the lukewarm base then pour into the ramekins to fill by around 4 fifths and place in a Bain marie.

Bake at 180°C for around 8 to 10 minutes.

Turn out the soufflé from the ramekins and chill in the fridge for up to 24 hours, until required.

Re-bake at 180°C for around 5 minutes, serve with a dressed salad with pecans and sliced pear.Find more fabulous recipes and about French cheese at CNIEL (Centre National Interprofessionnel de l Economie Laitière) the French Dairy Interbranch Organization, is an organisation recognised by French and European public authorities which brings together players from the French dairy sector (milk producers, cooperatives and private companies, people in mass retail, trade and institutional catering).