Pecorino souffle, seasonal greens, Roquefort sauce

Wine pairing

2012 Zdar Chardonnay

Ingredients

Souffle batter
500ml  milk
50g butter
50g flour
100g gruyere, grated
100g pecorino, grated
5 egg yolks
6 egg whites

Roquefort sauce
400ml cream
150g grated parmesan
200g Roquefort – any good blue well veined blue is good for this

In a heavy-based saucepan, melt the butter, add the flour and mix both together well. Add the milk and bring to the boil, whisking continuously. Remove from the heat and add cheeses – you may need to put back on a low heat to melt cheese properly. In a mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Tip - add a squeeze of lemon juice at the end to stabilize the whites, then add to the cheese mixture.

Pour the mixture into ramekins. Tip - to make them extra special, line the edges of the ramekins with softened butter, crushed walnuts and some grated parmesan. Cook in a Bain marie/water bath for 10-15mins at 160C and allow to cool in the water. Simply warm them back up in a 180C oven when ready to serve. They will collapse when cooled but will rise again for serving.

For the blue cheese sauce, bring the cream to the boil and reduce by half. Remove from the heat and whisk in grated parmesan and crumbled Roquefort.  Pass through a fine sieve so you end up with a silky sauce. Make this close to serving and keep warm until needed.

For the garnish, toast and chop some walnuts, and blanch some greens depending on what’s available at the time of year. In spring, asparagus or broad beans. In winter, Tuscan cabbage or rapini. Arrange the greens over the base of the plate, put the soufflé in the center, pour some of the sauce around and sprinkle with toasted walnuts and chopped chives.