Last Monday of February, a month that used to be my favorite. Summer in Brazil, carnival (not that I was that much into it, but still, a big break from work in the height of the summer was always well-received). That all changed 23 years ago, when I first moved to France and then, a couple of years later permanently to the US. February is now a month I do my best to survive. I count the days for it to be over to get some hope of life percolating back into my veins. ANYWAY, I am sure you are not here to read me whine and pout. Instead, you are here for the reward of a revelation: which blog was my assignment for this month’s adventure with The Secret Recipe Club: it was the The Wimpy Vegetarian! I literally screamed with joy when I got the email notification, because as a regular reader of Susan’s blog, I felt totally at home “stalking” it. You should visit her “About” page, but let me just say that when she decided to become a vegetarian, or as she put it “to focus more on a plant-based diet“, her husband was not exactly thrilled. He went along with it for a while, but at some point started referring to “farro” as “horse food“. No bueno, folks. But Susan fought back using all the culinary skills accumulated from her classes at Tante Marie Cooking School, and turned veggie dishes (horse food included) into concoctions her husband could not resist. She succeeded big time, and her blog is there to show us how. There were so many dishes I bookmarked as tempting possibilities, but I narrowed them down to these: Rustic Cauliflower and Tomato Gratin, Arepas Rellenas (I even have the special flour to make them, so I must get to this recipe at some point), Skillet Baked Corn Pudding, Farinata (another recipe I’m always dreaming about), Sweet Potato Biscuit Pillows (excuse me, I need to wipe drool off the side of my mouth), Broccoli-Cheddar Quinoa Casserole Tart. Susan is a fantastic cook and often enters – and wins – cooking contests, so pretty much anything on her site feels quite special. Pay her a visit, and become a subscriber, even if you are not a strict vegetarian.
For my assignment, I went with very elegant Herbed Goat Cheese souffles. They turned out amazing!
HERBED GOAT CHEESE SOUFFLE
(from The Wimpy Vegetarian)
1/2 teaspoon dried lavender
zest from 1/2 medium lemon
3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
pinch of salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces fresh soft goat cheese
1 ounce ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon honey
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup low-fat milk
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (I used 4)
butter for the ramekins
Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prep the ramekins by smearing them with butter and sprinkling grated Parmesan cheese on the bottoms and around the sides. Set aside.
Rub the dried lavender between your fingers to reduce as much as half of the buds to a powder. Combine this with the lemon zest, 1 tablespoon of Parmesan, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the goat cheese, ricotta, 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, thyme, honey, egg yolks, milk and flour together. Stir well to completely combine. Add to the reserved lavender mixture.
In a small bowl, whip the egg whites just to a firm peak. Be careful not to get them too firm, or they’ll be difficult to fold into the cheese-yolk mixture. Fold the beaten egg whites into the cheese-yolk mixture in thirds using a large spatula. It’s fine to have lumps of egg whites in the mixture – it will not be smooth. Place the ramekins in a baking dish and fill the dish with hot water one-half the way up the sides of the ramekins. Carefully spoon the cheese-egg mixture into the ramekins, filling them 2/3 full.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until browned on top and springy – firm to the touch. Remove and allow to cool in the ramekins for 15 minutes. The souffles will collapse and start to pull away from the sides of the ramekins. Run a knife around their edges and turn the ramekin upside down. The souffle should slide right out.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: What I loved the most about the recipe was the inclusion of lavender. It gave the souffle a sort of unusual component, Phil could not guess what it was, but once I told him it was lavender he could detect it. You need to add just a small amount, it is quite potent, don’t go crazy with it. I was also surprised by the method of preparing the base, as I always make a bechamel type sauce. For this recipe, you mix it all and do not pre-cook, it goes straight into the oven, in a water-bath environment. Because I was afraid the mixture was a bit too liquid, I added double the amount of flour. Not sure it was necessary, but they ended up with a very nice texture, and un-molded easily.
This is the type of recipe that would be perfect for entertaining, or for that special dinner for two, candlelight and all… a first date, a first year anniversary, you catch my drift. Any meal will be special when these are part of the menu!
Susan, it was a great pleasure to indulge a little more deeply into your blog, I hope you also had a blast with your assignment this month…
For my readers, the usual reminder to poke the blue frog at the end of my post. She will take you to plenty of great recipes made by my fellow virtual friends at The Secret Recipe Club.
ONE YEAR AGO: Barley Risotto with Peas
TWO YEARS AGO: Jammin’ Blueberry Sour Milk Pancakes
THREE YEARS AGO: Scallops with Black Pasta in Orange Cream Sauce
FOUR YEARS AGO: Stir-fried Chicken with Creamed Corn
FIVE YEARS AGO: Potato, Cheddar, and Chive Torpedo (one of the best breads I ever made!)
Oooooh, yes, how very exquisite! Love the addition of lavender! Interesting.
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Sophisticated, don’t you think? I think it made this dish!
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What an elegantly flavoured dish! The lavender, thyme and honey would all play an integral part in the flavour base with Parmesan giving the goat cheese a slight extra push!! Hmm, tho’ personal time limits made me decimate my blogroll at the beginning of the year this parent blog is just about to get a visitor methinks 🙂 !
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[big, big smile] Australia calling it seems 😀 !!
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Hope you can “squeeze” that blog in your regular visits – worth it, for sure!
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Wow, Sally. You are amazing and your writing always makes me smile from ear to ear. Your souffles are simply gorgeous. Awesome choice.
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You are always so sweet! Thank you, glad you enjoy my posts…. and as you know by now, the feeling is mutual!
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I would have chosen the goat cheese souffles too but so many good recipes to choose from!
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Hard to ignore a souffle presented in individual servings, I cannot resist it!
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Thank you thank you thank you for your very kind words, Sally! I’m a regular stalker of your blog too, and can’t wait for the day I am assigned yours for a month. I’m really glad you enjoyed the goat cheese soufflés. I’m going to make them again and check to make sure I wrote down the recipe correctly on the flour amount!! A very, very happy Reveal Day to you, my friend 🙂
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I doubt the amount of flour would make much difference, I think your recipe is written correctly, I was just a bit afraid to mess it up, you know… I hope you get my blog at some point, curious to see what recipe you would pick!
Thanks for stopping by!
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I LOVE Goat’s cheese and soufflés, so this is the recipe for me! Great SRC pick, Karen
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I am also very fond of goat cheese, and I’m glad I “converted” the husband because when we met he did not care for it. But, a smile here, a smile there, and voila’ – he now loves it!
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I can almost taste this warm goat cheese goodness. It looks delicious! Happy Reveal Day!
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Happy Reveal Day for you too, hope you had a chance to browse through the collection, some great stuff this month!
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Oh those look SO lovely!! They look divinely creamy and delicious… yumm!
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Exactly, they were super creamy and with that slight tang only a goat cheese can give! Awesome recipe….
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The souffle looks creamy and moist inside and nice and crunchy and browned on top. Bet it was great.
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It was awesome indeed – I had leftovers next day and even a brief encounter with the microwave did not make them lose much of the texture and taste.
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I still like Pepin’s souffle technique best because I can make individual souffles and bake them the same day, the next day or the day after and still get a great souffle.
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I had Susan’s blog last month and fell in love. I wish I could be assigned to her again!
Wonderful selection – I guess you were feeling pretty fancy.
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Oh, there is SO MUCH great stuff in her blog, it’s not even funny…. I would love to stalk it all over again… 😉
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Hahahaha ‘Farro’ -> ‘Horse food’ seriously cracked me up. Hysterical!
BTW those souffles look light, airy, and so incredibly delicious. What a great recipe my friend!
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It cracked me up too! Horse food is just too too funny! You should see the face Phil makes when I bring beets home… I need to prepare him psychologically for them, you know….
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Oh, these seem so fancy but really easy! They sound amazing! Love the flavors from the lavender and lemon zest. Total winning dish here!!!
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Agree with you, the lavender, with the lemon zest and the slight sweetness of honey made this dish a complete winner in my book!
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Oh, these look beautiful! One of our favorite local restaurants has a wonderful savory souffle on their menu, + I should try to recreate it at home – bookmarking to try these!
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Yes, that would be wonderful to try and come up with your home-cooked version. Years ago we had a FANTASTIC tiramisu in an Italian restaurant in Paris, and we used to go there regularly. I practically BEGGED for the recipe, no luck. I wish I was good enough to try and make it – but I know my limitations…. that will have to wait until our next trip to Paris, however long it may take… (sigh)
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These look wonderful! Gonna save this recipe for later. Thanks for sharing!
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Hope you try it, Debbie! I know that we always seem to have way too many recipes in our list “to try soon”, but this was a super special meal!
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Delicious recipe! I love all the spices and herbs you added to this recipe. Sounds amazing!
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Great to see you here! Glad you liked this recipe….
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Wow….these are gorgeous and they look mouthwateringly delicious!!
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Yes, indeed… these were pretty tasty, and made our evening special…
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This looks so good! I love anything with goat cheese- it’s so delish.
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Me too, goat cheese might be an acquired taste for some people, but it is worth warming up to…
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Ooh, these look delicious. I must try them.
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I hope you do, Tara!
thanks for stopping by….
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I love souffles of all kinds, this recipe is another one in my future collection 🙂 It just looks and sounds so delicious. Thanks for sharing.
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Souffles are nice, and surprisingly easy to put together… So many flavors to try!
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I have never made a souffle, but these look so delicious I’m going to give it a shot, the lavender is a nice touch!
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I make souffles quite often, but used to be intimidated by them years ago – glad I overcame that little “problem” 😉
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Wow, these look perfect! So fluffy and delicious!
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Very fluffy and very very tasty….
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I love the addition of goat cheese. What a fancy (and simple!) meal. Great choice this month 🙂
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You said it all, it is fancy but simple – hard to beat that!
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I would have never thought of putting the soufflé with a salad like you did here, but it looks wonderful. And I love goat cheese. Just stopping in from Group C to say great job.
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I think the fact that they are so small and delicate makes the presentation with a salad quite nice. A real large size souffle maybe wouldn’t work so well presented like this.
Great to see you here, fellow Secret from Neighborhood C 😉
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Yum! I love the use of lavender. Great pick
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I don’t use lavender often enough, should look for more recipes calling for it, I love it!
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Hey, hey, hey there Debbie Downer, this blogger was born in February so I just know the month can’t be *that* bad ;-). Oh my goodness these little puff soufflés are just so freakin’ cute! and I’m thinking delicious too. I think I may have to make them for the hubby (also born in February 😀 ).
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Ok, I will never EVER again complain about February! that was totally uncalled for – actually I have quite a few birthdays to celebrate this month, youngest stepson, a very good friend from Brazil (Feb 7th), my great niece Marilia, and her Mom, my niece Carla… a festive month, even if too freaking cold in Kansas! 😉
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Reblogged this on Chef Ceaser.
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Thank you for the re-blog!
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I too am a big fan of Susan’s blog and I just love this dish. Been a while since I’ve made a soufflé, will have to change that soon.
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I noticed that we visit some of the same blogs – what can I say? We have exquisite taste, my friend….
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These look so cute and delicious!
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THey turned out great, of course unmolding can be a little nerve-wrecking, but I had no problem whatsoever!
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These look so cute! And intense! (Anything with lavender in it is intense to me haha). Do you think that you could use all goats cheese & goats milk if you wanted a cow dairy free version?
I’m struggling with this February as well – our winter’s been really weird this year, which has made skiing (the activity to make winter tolerable/enjoyable) rather lacking. Hopefully it gets better or spring comes quickly!
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I am sure these substitutions would work fine! I see quite a few adapted recipes now to remove dairy or gluten, or fat or you name it… so many ingredients can take the place of stuff we are trying to avoid for one reason or another. I hope you give this a try!
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These look great…and now I’m off to visit Susan’s blog…:)
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Her blog is great, you will love it!
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I did 🙂
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Cheers to the last week of this awful month! I’m with you. It’s been so awfully cold again this year. It’s really getting to me. I’m dying to get out for a run. The sun so high in sky keeps confusing me too. My body wants to believe it’s warmer than it is and then I’m brutally reminded the second I step outside. Too cold for me. Someday we’ll move some where warm! Your goat cheese souffles look fantastic! I can’t resist anything with goat cheese. These would definitely make a great date night meal. Yum! Yum! Yum!
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It is snowing. THe plan was to go for an 8 miler run before lunch. Plan B is to try it again tomorrow, today no bueno. February sucks….
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Aww, I love this! And the fact of being secret makes it even more exciting 😉
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The secret makes it special indeed! Gotta love the Secret Recipe Club!
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Oh my gawd that looks good! Lavender, goat cheese, honey, ricotta? Swooning! Adore Susan’s blog and great SRC pick this month! (Sorry it took me so long to get here to comment.)
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No matter how late, you are always welcome at the Bewitching! 😉
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