This is definitely a cheater's soufflé. I've been making it for years, and have never given out the recipe. It's WAY too simple. Here it is: 6 egg whites, beaten until stiff. Gently fold in one can of Solo apricot filling, available at most supermarkets. Put into six one-cup ramekins (one big soufflé dish won't work). Bake in a preheated 375 oven until puffed and golden, 15-20 minutes. Serve at once with fresh berries, or in a pinch, a package of frozen raspberries, thawed. That's it.
I usually take the filling out of the can before dinner (so my guests won't see how easy it is!). It's short work to whisk up the egg whites (a big copper bowl seems to help to give more volume) when you're ready to bake them.
Promise you won't tell anyone I know about this...
Tagged with: IMBB # 20 + Souffle
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3 comments:
Coincidentally, my IMBB 20 souffle also uses processed apricots, and is from the mind of Alice Waters (of Chez Panisse fame) before she got a full kitchen staff who could do the 3 hours of preprocessing to convert fresh apricots into something useable in a souffle. 3 hours vs. 3 seconds --- cheating or sanity? After tasting a souffle that uses preprocessed apricots (jam, in my case), I'd call it sanity.
There is a scientific reason why copper bowls make better egg white foam. On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee (a must have for any serious cookbook collection) has a long explanation. Here is my summary: People have known that copper helps egg whites for centuries, and McGee shows a 1771 illustration as an example. Conalbumin is one of the protiens in the egg white that gives the foam its stability. It turns out that copper ions bind with the conalbumin protein during beating and this interaction makes the resulting copper-protein combination (a "complex") much more stable than the protein is by itself. McGee says that iron and zinc also interact with conalbumin, but neither improve the egg foam's stability.
Thanks for sharing your little secret. I promise I won't tell. They look fabulous, too.
Oh I am so glad you "gave up" your recipe! This is the perfect dessert! Add abit of whipped vanilla cream and you have a "light" peach melba! This is going in my recipe file for certain! I can hardly wait to try it! Thanks!
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