Servings: 6 Prep: 20 mins Cook: 20 mins Total: 40 mins
A “Soufflé” is a puffy French “cake”, made primarily from whipped egg whites. They are always served hot and with immediacy. They are frequently sweet desserts, but not always.
I had my first Soufflé as a kid, at the “City Hotel” in Columbia, California. It was a fancy restaurant in the center of a historic “Gold Rush” town. I’ll never forget it, either. This was the kind of place that had “tableside service”, meaning they would actually prepare part of the food … right there at the table! As a child foodie, there was nothing more thrilling than watching our server whip up a classic Caesar Salad, right at the table, or catch a big pan of cherries on fire and pour it over ice cream. This place was special and still stands out in my mind as one of my first introductions to fine dining (circa 1983).
One of the dishes was a “Soufflé”. It was so special, that you had to order it BEFORE your dinner. It was made FRESH. Before being ordered, it was merely ingredient parts, scattered around a kitchen. Once the order was placed, in my mind, an army of men and women ran around the kitchen collecting the magic powders and golden elixers required to create the delicate protein matrix holding in all the hot precarious air in place, as this steaming and quivering sweet cylindrical cloud would be carefully delivered from the kitchen. The server would set it down in front of me, where I could smell the caramelized edges of the cake. He’d poke a hole in the middle of it, and then pour a warmly flavored custard sauce directly into the center of my prize. Pure ecstasy!
Perhaps one of these days, I’ll do a sweet soufflé. There is no reason I couldn’t do one. They are mostly egg, afterall. (egg and hot air, like I imagine an irate Humpty Dumpty would be).
This one was originally designed as a somewhat fancy brunch idea; really any breakfast or brunch, where a little elegance is in order: Mother’s Day, perhaps? Easter? Visiting family members? There are so many times in life where a beautiful green soufflé is needed. Now, you have one!
Note: Soufflé’s all puff up when baking, but are notorious for “falling” or “deflating” once they are removed from the oven. In this case, they all fell. I suspect it’s because of the vegetables within it, but I also may have jiggled them. If you were to remove the vegetables, sauté them, poke a hole in the soufflé after it was baked and pour them in, you’re more likely to retain the tall and puffy shape. In all cases, it’s still light, green, fluffy and yum.
Spinach, Asparagus and Artichoke Heart Soufflés
Print RateIngredients
- 1 bunch asparagus cut into thin rings
- 3 whole artichoke hearts in oil drained and cut into 8 wedges, each
- 4 cups baby spinach washed and stems removed
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 cup parmesan cheese grated
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1/2 cup goats cheese
- 8 each egg whites
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil, over high heat.
- While waiting for it to boil, grease 6 ramekins (I used 8 oz.). Divide your artichoke hearts and asparagus between the 6 ramekins and set aside.
- Gather a bowl with ice cubes and water, as well as a colander or straining device, of some kind. Once the water boils, add a nice amount of salt. Place your spinach into the boiling water and allow to swirl around for about 30 seconds. Remove the spinach with the strainer and immediately plunge it into the ice water. When it is thoroughly cooled, remove the spinach and squeeze it, by clinching it in your fists (or with a cloth), until all the water has been squeezed out. You should have a fairly small lump of cooked spinach.
- In a blender, combine your spinach, egg yolks, parmesan, coconut flour, goats cheese and a dash of salt and pepper. Blend this until a smooth puree has been formed. It should be BRIGHT green.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whip your egg whites and lemon juice, until firm peaks form (this is best with an electric mixer).
- Place your green goo into a mixing bowl, along with about 1/4 of your egg whites. Fold the two ingredients together. Then, add another 1/4 of your egg whites. Fold your green batter into these egg whites. Continue adding your egg whites and GENTLY folding the green goo into them, until you have a light and frothy green batter.
- Evenly divide your green batter between the 6 ramekins and place on a baking tray.
- Place tray in the oven. After about 1 minute, turn the heat down to 350 F.
- Bake for about 17 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately!
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Can these be frozen before baking?
Hi Q, honestly … I’m going to guess no. I’m not certain, but soufflés are generally fragile. I’d be shocked if they held up through a freezing process. You could try it, but … I’m pretty skeptical. If you do try it, please let us know how it turns out!
I’d love to try this recipe, but I’m lactose intolerant, so no cheese. It’s sad that most recipes rely on cheese for flavor. LOTS of cheese.
—Reply posted by DJ on 6/19/2015
Hi Linda, feel free to leave it out. The end result will be that much lighter. That said, the cheeses used here are a hard dry cheese and a goats cheese. Depending on the severity of your intolerance, you may be able to tolerate some portion of both of these cheeses. Both are easier to digest and contain low levels of lactose. Finally … if someone told me that I couldn’t eat … strawberries … I’d see strawberries everywhere! 😉 In all sincerity, I suggest looking at Paleo recipes. Paleo is a dairy free way of eating, while typically being pretty low-carb, as well. In any event, I hope this helps. Sorry if you’re feeling left out!
DJ this looks great but I would like to leave out the asparagus, how much total spinach should I use to compensate for omitting the asparagus?
—Reply posted by DJ on 4/3/2017
Realistically the spinach is more here for color. The asparagus is more just “bulk” and doesn’t do much for the color or overall integrity of the egg. You could just leave it out. Adding more spinach might actually dilute the egg enough where it won’t stay put. My suggestion would be to omit it, or substitute it with something else, like saut?ed zucchini, bell pepper, broccoli, etc. I hope this helps! 🙂
Once this is done cooking if you added cream cheese and mixed it together it would make an awesome dip…