Smoked Cheddar Souffle....My Way!

Summer time, Oh summer time!  For many, summer entails beaches, BBQ’s, sun and tan.  For me summer means vacation and travel.  During time off from school I have had the opportunity to visit places like Australia, The Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and most recently Puerto Rico.  For the past two summers coworkers and I have traveled to San Juan, PR for a great time on the beach and of course eating our faces off.

In a cookbook that highlighted chefs from the island, we discovered a restaurant owned by Wilo Benet in San Juan called Pikayo.  We booked a reservation and decided that for this night only money would be no object.  The meal was probably one of the most incredible meals that I have ever had and included my first taste of Soufflé.  Actually we had ordered two: a cheese soufflé and a chocolate soufflé.  The cheese soufflé actually blew my mind.  It was light, fluffy, salty and was served with this amazing guava sauce.

   

Pikayo's Cheese Souffle

Pikayo's Chocolate Souffle

                                                   
This being summer again, I am spending the vacation home in New York City.  However, to get back a taste from my time in Puerto Rico I have decided that I need to make a soufflé to remind me of the treasure that is Pikayo.  Hearing how difficult a soufflé can be to make had me a little nervous.  I did watch some online videos of Julia Child to see the methodology of making it.  Then it was just to find the recipe that I wanted to use.  I came across a recipe for a Smoked Cheddar Soufflé at chow.com.  Not having a large soufflé ramekin I divided the mix into four individual ramekins.  The results were better than I expected and I will be definitely using this recipe again. 

 Instead of using the breadcrumbs to dust the ramekins, I used parmigiano cheese, just to give more cheese and salt flavor

Preparing the roux

After milk, flour and butter cook, add salt, pepper and nutmeg

 Stir in a portion of the milk mixture into egg yolks so as not to scramble them

 Instead of using chives as the recipes says I substituted cilantro

 Beat the egg whites to firm peaks in an electric mixer

 Fold in egg whites gently to yolk, cheese and milk mixture

 Fill ramekins to just below the top and bake

 Finished results after 40 minutes

Inside: light, fluffy and delicious!