Raspberry soufflé

I hope you had a good Mother's Day!  For us, this past weekend started with a deluge of rain all Saturday, but somehow, I had a feeling Mother's Day would turn out nice if history was any indication.  Sure enough, the sun was shining most of the day...what a nice gift for us moms.  

I spent Mother's Day morning relaxing and enjoying breakfast in bed.  It's become something of a tradition and a lovely treat.  I took my time enjoying it but then I got up and started the day because I realized a while back that if I spend too much time relaxing or doing nothing, it starts driving me crazy.  So I took some time savoring my breakfast, then I got up to do what I like to do best - you know cooking/baking was involved!

My husband bought me some delicious raspberries; I devoured a good chunk of it at breakfast but managed to save some for a few soufflés. I had spotted a pretty straightforward recipe from French Country Cooking that I've been wanting to try...I finally managed not to eat all the raspberries before getting a chance to use them in this recipe!  

I can now tell you I'm really happy I tried this recipe because it worked very nicely and the result tasted light, sweet, airy - everything good about a glorious soufflé!  And it wasn't difficult to make.  

In this recipe, you simply crush the raspberries and whisk them into the soufflé base. In other words, there's no pureeing raspberries, cooking them down with lemon juice, then straining the mixture in order to make a raspberry syrup to start with that you often see in other recipes.  In fairness, you won't end up with as even a pink hue as you would expect if you were to do that but I think it's a fair exchange for the ease here.  

While the raspberry soufflés were baking, the kitchen started smelling like cotton candy!  I loved how they rose steadily in the oven and didn't split and spill overboard like they sometimes do.  Of course, the very best part is that moment when you dig your spoon into the warm soufflé, and taste it...it's like a warm egg custard with a punch of sweet raspberry flavor.

I think soufflés are always a treat and this raspberry version (that's not at all complicated to make) was no exception.

Orange soufflé

Who doesn't love the theatrics and taste of a soufflé?  I still remember times when I've had it for dessert when eating out.  My husband and I had the best ones at The Four Seasons Restaurant and La Grenouille in New York City and we still talk about it now and then.

Thanks to this blog, I learned to make soufflé at home.  Back in 2011, I started with a lemon soufflé.  It wasn't nearly as difficult as I imagined and it was delicious - it's one of those things that kind of melts in your mouth and disappears quickly.  And I gradually moved on...and tried chocolate soufflé (with orange crème anglaise), a chocolate version with Grand Marnier, as well as a plain Grand Marnier one.

I've had different degrees of success.  Over-whipping the egg whites seems to be my major problem but honestly, when you're not a professional or under the pressure of serving them to paying guests, imperfect soufflés are still really good!  I don't know how restaurants manage to bring soufflés to the table while they're still tall and lofty; my attempts at home start deflating seconds out of the oven.

An orange soufflés flavored with orange zest, fresh orange juice, and Grand Marnier

When wintertime rolls around and the holidays approach, I tend to think about soufflés a lot.  While I love to make and eat them, and I do make the ones I mentioned above occasionally, trying to photograph them to blog about is not so fun. But I was craving soufflé, particularly after looking through a holiday magazine and spotting an orange one (evidently, I have a thing for orange when it comes to soufflé), so I made it and tried to take some pics along the way.

These soufflés rose and rose steadily in the oven, but this is the first time they've cracked as much as they did.  Maybe I over-whipped my whites again, or I was too liberal with my liquid measurements, throwing in a little extra orange juice the way I did?  I'm not sure, to be honest, and as much as I love a "neat" soufflé, there's something kind of endearing about a sloppy, overflowing one as well.  I think so, anyway.

I love digging right into the center with a spoon.  It's steaming hot and so light and pillowy soft inside.  It really is like eating some sort of sweet eggy clouds.  In this case, these were bursting with orange flavor.  A warm soufflé is really good with a cold crème anglaise sauce as a contrast but even without it, they are surely divine just on their own.

My husband and I devoured these.  So I've indulged my soufflé craving, for now...

La Grenouille's Grand Marnier soufflé

For my birthday this year, my husband and I had a romantic dinner at New York restaurant, La Grenouille.

I used to work in midtown and pass by La Grenouille often as I rushed to and from work or zoomed past on my lunch break (because you are constantly rushing in NYC, it seems), but I've never eaten there.  The restaurant is something of a New York City hallmark having been in business for 50 years and is known for classic French cuisine as well as its amazing floral arrangements.  I used to peer into the window when I walked past and see glimpses of flowers and people.  And for whatever reason I thought of this and wanted to go there for my birthday this year.

Grand Marnier Soufflé

When I walked into the restaurant, my first impression was the smell.  It wasn't the aroma of food but flowers.  There were small arrangements of white roses at each table and more dramatic, towering floral arrangements in tones of white and green placed around the dining room.  Setting foot in there felt a bit like stepping into a little oasis.  I may not have been totally at ease at first as my husband and I were seated side by side at one of the red banquettes and tried to figure out the protocol of this iconic French restaurant, but the combination of polite service, good food, and terrific company had me relaxed and enjoying the meal more and more as the night went on.  It was a memorable birthday dinner...my husband and I shared a lot of whispers and laughs as we snuggled up in our little banquette.

Now, I think I better get to the soufflé.  It's not often I see soufflé on a restaurant menu (and I mean real soufflé, not just a flourless cake) and if it's there, hopefully, there's a good reason.  La Grenouille is known for theirs and I certainly intended to order one for dessert.  I was surprised to hear a wide selection to choose from (Grand Marnier, coffee, caramel, pistachio, and lemon were among the few I remember) but of course I went with chocolate, in a medium size, which is more than enough for two. 

Let me tell you we were not disappointed (and glad we didn't order a small)!  Our chocolate soufflé was rich, warm, moist, chocolaty - really as good as a soufflé is going to get.  The waiter came to show us the lofty creation and then stepped aside to plate it for us.  I was struck by how relatively firm (in a good way) the soufflé was - the way it maintained its structure on our plates despite being cut and split - while being fluffy and moist.  The warm soufflé was served with chilled whipped cream, which I took liberal portions of.  Each bite was heavenly and a wonderful cap to the meal.  We also had a vanilla eclair and sampled some petite fours but those pale in comparison.

As you can tell, I can talk about food all day or for pages on end!  For the sake of brevity (maybe too late now), I'll tell you that I found the recipe for La Grenouille's Grand Marnier soufflé when it was published 10 years ago on its 40th anniversary.  Even though we opted for the chocolate when we were there, I couldn't resist giving the recipe a try and paying a little homage to our recent dinner.  It wasn't very smooth sailing for me when it came to this recipe but all's well that ends well...although what was intended to be 3 soufflés ultimately turned into just one.

Maybe dividing the recipe in half wasn't a good idea in this case.  Or it could've been rushing to make the pastry cream in the middle of the afternoon before heading out that messed things up.  I couldn't get the pastry cream to thicken as I imagined it should from previous experience and, let me tell you, hiking up the heat and trying to rush things truly does not work!  So I ended up with far less pastry cream than I intended.  It never quite thickened up as much as I figured it should but as you can see, a lone Grand Marnier soufflé did materialize.  Much like the one at the restaurant, I noticed the soufflé from my oven was likewise firm and sturdy on the top and moist in the center so maybe I wasn't too off the mark.

This calls out to anyone who enjoys Grand Marnier.  With no other major accompanying flavors other than vanilla in the pastry cream, the Grand Marnier is quite distinct.  On the other hand, if you like a softer touch and, say, chocolate with Grand Marnier, check out this recipe.

Thinking back to my birthday dinner with my hubby at La Grenouille puts a smile on my face.  I'm always grateful to make happy memories.