Souffles

Today, I ate three soufflés before lunch. Don't judge me. You would have too if you had been given the chance. A chocolate souffle, a cheese souffle, a raspberry souffle...how could I have said no? My waistline is regretting it, but I'm definitely not. Oh yeah...and I also ate profiteroles stuffed with chocolate mousse. Woops! Here are the pictures:

Raspberry Souffle

Cheese Souffle

Chocolate Souffle

Profiteroles with Chocolate Mousse

So I've almost made it through the week, with the addition of a few pounds. And I only have one more day with Martin, my favorite partner. Despite the pouring rain outside and what felt like 100 percent humidity in the kitchen, our souffles turned out pretty well. (Humidity is bad news when you're making things like souffles and meringues that involve fluffed air) Although we did have to redo two sets of egg whites because they were overbeaten. We started the day with chocolate mousse, whipping up heavy cream and egg whites and combining them together with melted chocolate. Then we let it sit in the refrigerator until the end of the day when we piped them into a pastry bag to fill the profiteroles. Next we did the chocolate souffle, which was delicious. It was crisp and fluffy on the outside and slightly underdone in the center and so rich from the bittersweet chocolate. And I don't usually like dessert.

Next we made a savory cheese souffle with Gruyere, and finally a raspberry souffle...all before lunch! After lunch we made pate a choux, the dough for the profiteroles, which is cooked twice, once on the stovetop and next its either baked, fried or poached. We baked them, and they came out to be very light and fluffy, but golden crisp on the outside. A perfect match for the chocolate mousse.

Yesterday we made ice creams, sorbets and meringues. Well, we didn't actually make any ice cream or sorbet because it involved putting it into one of those industrial ice cream makers, and they didn't have 12 of them to spare for every team to make their own ice cream. So we watched as Chef Jeff explained how to use the machine and made a delicious-looking vanilla-based ice cream with chocolate chips and some liquor. He also made a grapefruit sorbet while we watched. Next we moved onto meringues, making a Swiss and Italian meringue. A Swiss meringue is a meringue that is heated over a double boiler, with egg whites and sugar, until it reaches 130 degrees, then it is beaten until it reaches the soft peak phase (when it can slightly stand up on its own). As we whipped over the double boiler, Chef Rogers went around the classroom sticking a laser thermometer in everyone's meringue to see if it had reached 130 degrees yet. The Italian meringue is made by heating sugar to the soft ball stage (about 230 degrees when it can make soft balls when rolled together, but its still clear and not caramel yet) and then adding it to whipping egg whites.

This is what we made with the Swiss Meringue, a baked meringue shell that we filled with whipped cream:

For this, we split the meringue in half, added cocoa powder to one half and then wrapped each up in plastic logs, then wrapped them into one big log and put that into a pastry bag and piped it onto a baking sheet.

With the Italian meringue, we made a souffle glacee, a frozen souffle. Although it looks like your typical baked souffle, it is actually just frozen and made from meringue and whipped cream with a raspberry puree. Here is a picture:

It sort of tasted like a push pop! Remember those things? Martin made quite a scene trying to pipe the souffle into a pastry bag and into his ramekin. Our entire station ended up covered in pink blobs of frozen souffle batter.

And I finally have a recipe of my own to share with you! Last night I made a stuffed acorn squash with some delicious pork sausage that I bought at the farmers market. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 acorn squash, split and seeded
1 onion, small diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
2-3 sausages, casings removed (I used hot sausage, but you can use whatever you like)
1 tablespoon of fennel seeds
1 bay leaf
a pinch of dried sage (would have used fresh, but I had none on hand, so if you have some, use it!)
1 cup of rice
3 tablespoons, plus some for topping squash parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Split the squash in half, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place cut-side down in a baking dish and place in oven for 35-40 minutes until the squash is soft when pierced with a fork.

While the squash roasts, add some olive oil to a sautee pan, and when its hot add the onion. Sweat the onion for about 4 minutes until it starts to be come translucent. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the fennel and other herbs and cook for 2 minutes. Next add the sausage, breaking it apart with your spoon as it cooks. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

When the squash is done roasting, scoop out some of the pulp, leaving about 1/4 of an inch remaining on the squash. Add the squash pulp to the sausage mixture and stir until it comes together. Add the rice and the parmesan cheese. Next fill the squash with the stuffing and top with grated parmesan cheese.

Put the squash under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is slightly crispy and browned on top. Enjoy!

Ok. I think it's time to go do some yoga and try to redeem myself for all the souffle calories. Does blogging burn calories?