Goat’s cheese and thyme soufflé

Categories: March

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, halved
• 3 cloves
• 300ml full-cream milk
• 300ml double cream
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
• 75g butter
• 40g plain flour
• 5 large eggs
• the leaves from 2 large sprigs of thyme, plus a few leaves to garnish
• 150g soft goat's cheese, crumbled
• 25g hard goat's cheese, finely grated
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Stud the onion halves with the cloves and put them into a pan with the milk, cream, bay leaf and black peppercorns. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and set aside for 20 minutes to infuse. Strain the milk and cream through a sieve and discard the flavouring ingredients.

2. Melt the butter in a non-stick pan, add the flour and cook over a medium heat for 1 minute to cook out the flour. Gradually beat in the flavoured milk and cream and bring to the boil, stirring. Simmer very gently over a very low heat for 10 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then. Pour into a large mixing bowl and leave to cool slightly.

3. Preheat the oven to 200˚C/fan 180˚C/gas 6. Separate the eggs and put the whites into another large mixing bowl. Mix the egg yolks into the sauce, then stir in half the thyme leaves, the crumbled fresh goat’s cheese, the grated hard goat’s cheese, cayenne pepper, 3/4 teaspoon of salt and some black pepper. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and gently fold them into the mixture.

4. Lightly butter a shallow, oval ovenproof dish that measures 30 × 18cm and about 5cm deep. Pour in the soufflé mixture, sprinkle with the remaining thyme leaves and bake for 30 minutes, until the top is puffed up and golden but the centre is still soft and creamy.

5. Garnish with a few fresh thyme leaves and serve. This is very nice with a soft, green leaf salad.

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