I guess the analogy ends there. Because I wasn't really trying to impress myself I just bought the Dutch Fontina at the IGA. I could have opted for the real thing, Fontina Val D'Osta, which is smooth, tangy, and makes a sublime grilled cheese.

Anyway, I made a soufflé with fontina and roasted garlic. I've made a few of these with just simple cheddar, but this was the first time I'd tried anything fancier. I had recently moved furniture around in my apartment and found this small garlic-themed cookbook shoved under my couch. The Fontina-Garlic Souffle was the recipe that really stood out.

Soufflés are great, and a lot simpler than we are led to believe. It's hard to describe the mouthfeel, really - it's like rich, creamy bubbles, if that makes sense. Kind of like carbonated scrambled eggs, except, well, that it tastes good.

Even if you decide to not make the soufflé, you HAVE to try the roasted garlic at least once. Just remove the outer papery skin from a head of garlic, separate the cloves, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, and, if you have it, fresh thyme, and put all of this in a pouch of aluminum foil. Place in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, shaking the pouch about every ten. The result is almost like candy.

Otherwise, this is a pretty standard soufflé. Bechamel + cheese folded into egg whites - and then baked.

I am a bechamel ninja, by the way. And it's an essential skill to have if you ever want to make gravy, a pot pie base, or a zillion other sauces. You basically melt three tablespoons of butter over low heat, stir in three tablespoons of flour until it forms a paste and smells nutty. Add three cups of milk and stir vigorously over medium heat until the sauce simmers. Then you can add your cheese or whatever else. (Note the porportions below are a bit different due to the presence of a lot of extra moisture from the eggs)

Anyway, VERY tasty.

Fontina Garlic Soufflé

1 head roasted garlic (see above)
4 T butter
3 T AP flour
1 1/2 C warm milk
5 egg yolks
4 oz fontina cheese, grated
1/2 C parmesan cheese, grated
6 egg whites

Place a large, FASTIDIOUSLY clean metal bowl in the freezer.

Melt 3 T of butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Sir in the flour all at once and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the milk all at once, stirring vigourously. The lumps do cook out if you continue stirring! Cook on low for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Press the roasted garlic from its skins to make a rough puree. Stir this puree into your bechamel, along with a bit of salt and pepper. Cover and cool to room temperature.

Stir the egg yoks, the fontina, and all but about 2T of the parm into the cooled sauce.

Butter your 1.5 quart souffle pan (or a pie pan) and coat with the remaining parm. Preheat the oven to 450.

Retreive your bowl from the freezer, and place the egg whites in it. Beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until they are stiff but not dry (do the thing you see on tv to test doneness - pull the mixer straight out of the mix, turn the beaters over, and 'peaks' should remain erect.)

Now. stir in a LITTLE of the beaten whites into the bechamel mixture, and then fold in the rest in two parts. By fold, I mean dont stir. Think "sweep and scoop," run your spatula down the center of the bowl, then scoop the bottom onto the top.

Anyway, pour your soufflé mixture into your baking vessel and bake for 18-20 mintues, until it is brown on top but still creamy in the center.

Serves 4-6

Adapted from The Garlic Book

Posted by Jeff at 12:05 AM:: Permalink :: (Comments Closed)

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