Potato Souffle, Cauli-Cheddar Soup, Honey Cake, Burger

Italian Potato Souffle

This Souffle Inna Mug recipe comes from my old friend Luciano Furia, the Italian food photographer, currently hunkered down safe in his hometown of Naples, Italy. Luke made this from a recipe in an Italian cookbook by a Mrs. Zampino. I've translated the measures for Americans...

This was my first soufflé, and not nearly as difficult as I'd been led to believe.  Maybe it's because of the potatoes.  Maybe falling souffles are an urban kitchen myth.  I don't know; but I do know this is FABULOUS!  Rich, unctuous, creamy, earthy....   That mug in the picture is a 2 cup size; that's basically a meal-sized soufflé. 

1 lb Potatoes (I used 2 reds)

4 Eggs, separated

1/4 cup Half & Half

½ cup shredded, smoked Provolone

½ cup Parmesan, shredded or grated

½ cup shredded Mozzarella plus a bit for topping

¼ cup Butter

Salt & Pepper to taste

* can't find Smoked Provolone in these trying times? "Cheat" with regular Provolone and a couple drops of liquid smoke.

Peel and halve the potatoes. Cook. Mash into a bowl.

Whip the egg whites into stiff peaks.

Stir the cheeses, one at a time, into the mashed potatoes.  Depending on the starchiness of your potatoes you may want to add up to 1/4 cup of milk or half & half to get a smooth 'mash'.  Now add the butter at room temp and the egg yolks. Last, fold in the egg whites to make a creamy consistency.

Grease individual containers (large ramekins or mugs). Fill each about 2/3 full (the filling will puff up), and top with a healthy pinch of Mozzarella. Bake for 20 minutes at 400F. until golden on top.  Serve hot.

Cauliflower Cheddar Soup

That head of cauliflower we got in our produce box was calling to me, saying “soup....soup...” (actually, it was Sally).   So I checked a bunch of recipes to get some ideas and here's what I made for our Sunday Supper.

I head Cauliflower, disassembled and chopped 'pretty small'
1 White Onion, diced

2 small/medium White Potatoes (any kind, actually)

2 cups Veggie or Chicken Broth

½ tsp grated Nutmeg

¼ – ½ tsp each Gram Masala, Cayenne, White Pepper

2 cups Half & Half or whole milk

2 cups shredded White Cheddar

Par-cook, peel and chop or smash the potatoes; you want them to act as a thickener, not chunks of spud. I used the microwave for about 5 minutes. Some people like to heat the house by boiling potatoes or baking them.

Saute the onion in a splash of EVOO, until translucent. Add the cauliflower, potatoes, broth and spices. Add two cups of water. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Add the dairy and simmer for 10 more minutes. Adjust the seasonings as needed. Add the cheddar, stirring so it doesn't stick as it melts. 

Remove from the heat and serve with a nice crusty bread – like the Kalamata Olive Bread in last week's Fooding Around blog post or my Fast Bread.  

Manuka Honey Cake
Can you have too much honey?  Sally has bought an unfortunately large jar of Australian Manuka Honey, which is supposed to be soooo healthy.  Trouble is, it is soooo bitter, almost like dark molasses, that we don't care for the taste.  So I was tasked to find a way to use it up and stop wasting cupboard space.

So here's a Honey Cake -- classic Jewish Rosh Hashonna recipe, more or less, but with interesting tweaks in the spice department, including half a cup of strong coffee or tea.  The recipe comes from a blogger called Shiran at prettysimplesweet.com.

 I opted for a strong cuppa Ginger tea; and left out 1/2 cup of white sugar in favor of an extra 1/4 cup of honey {Why would you add sugar to a honey cake recipe?}.

1-1/4 cup AP Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 t Cloves

1/4 tsp Cardamon

2 Eggs

3/4 cup Honey of choice

1/3 cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup strong Coffee of Tea -- I used a strong Ginger tea

1/4 cup slivered Almonds for topping

Preheat oven to 350F

Combine flour, baking soda and powder, salt and spices.  

In a larger bowl beat together the eggs and honey until lighter in color.  add the oil and extract and beat another couple minutes.  Then, while beating add the flour mix and coffee/tea in alternating does, beginning and ending with flour.  Beat another couple minutes until smooth.

Pour mixture into a greased pan or pans.  I used two 6" pans rather than a 9" round or a loaf pan.  Top with slivered almonds.  Bake 35-45 minutes or until you get a clean toothpick.  Rest for 10 minutes before removing from pan and final cooling.

This is supposed to be better the next day, but neither of us could wait that long!  Oh yummmm!  Great news was that the distinctive Manuka flavor did not come through the spices!  And -- the cake is not as cloyingly sweet as you might think from the name and all that honey.  Just the right level of sweetness. Sorta like gingerbread but not gingery.  Great texture and crumb. 

I can see making this cake with berries in the batter, or chopped dried fruit like cherries or apricots.  Nuts in the batter would be good too.  Lots of potential here.

Hamburger
I can't tell you how long it's been since I fried a hamburger!   At least a dozen years.   But I got a real craving the other day... and I'd rather make my own, in isolation, than buy one from even the best burger joint, especially now.

So the other day, when I went on a short foraging expedition to Aldi for cheap wine and a couple other 'no name' but good products, I grabbed a pound of 95% fat free beef.  Brought it home and subdivided it into quarters and froze three of them.  This is what I did with the fourth quarter>

I used an Arnoldtm Sandwich Thin, a good schmear of mayonnaise,  Provolone cheese and a slice of locally grown beefsteak tomato from our Co-op.   Of course I tarted things up a bit by using Icelandic Black Lava Salt and Madagascar Garlic Pepper in the burger itself!

OMG!  Why did I wait all these years?  I won't be making a real habit of these -- but there are the other three quarters...