Serves 4
30 minutes – a bit tricky – doesn’t wait for anyone

Ingredients

4 x 10-12 cm closed Swiss brown

50g very soft butter

splash EV olive oil

120g small Swiss brown, finely sliced

sea salt

black pepper, freshly ground

10g fresh porcini or chantrelles

10g trompetta

320g Egg Enriched Béchamel

10g Poddi Tartufi truffle paste

300g egg white, at room temperature

10ml fresh strained lemon juice

40g finely grated pecorino parmesan mix

12 slices of fresh truffle – optional

for the salad garnish – see tip 1.

12 leaves of witlof

12 leaves of treviso

sea salt

black pepper, freshly ground

essential equipment – see tip 2. if you want to make a simpler soufflé

1 x 9 cutter

4 x 9 cm  rings

baking paper

Method

Trim the large mushrooms, remove the stalks, and cut a slice from the top so they will sit straight on a dish. Use the cutter to cut the edges cleanly. Chop the trim and add it to the sliced Swiss browns. Cut four strips of baking paper 12 cm  high and long enough to wrap the mushrooms with a 5 cm overlap. Spread the edges of the mushrooms with the soft butter. Very tightly collar the mushrooms. Use a smear of the soufflé base to seal the collars and drop a ring over each collar and place them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.

Pre heat oven to 180ºC
Sauté the mushroom scraps and Swiss browns in a splash of olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper, then add then porcini/chantrelles and trompetta, toss over for a minute and then turn off of the heat. When they are cooled tip them into the béchamel, add the truffle paste and mix together.
There are a number of reasons why soufflés fail but over beating the egg whites is the main reason why they will fail to rise. Add beating the egg whites until they are dry and crumbly and the soufflé will never have the lovely creamy texture it is supposed to have. The great Australian chef Cheong Liew unravelled the mystery for us years ago with this simple explanation. “You have to leave enough elasticity in the egg whites that they will still expand. Just like a balloon there has to be room for more air as the heat is applied the eggs will expand.” Get it through your head and you’ve got the soufflé.

Put the collared mushrooms into the oven. Put one third of the egg white into the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat at high speed. As soon as the egg white foams add half of the lemon juice and keep beating the egg white until you have soft peaks. Using a clean spatula, scrape the egg white into the base. Add the remaining egg white and lemon juice and whisk until you have soft peaks but just slightly stiffer than the first batch. While this is happening mix the egg white into to base. Working more carefully, fold the second batch of egg white and when completely incorporated (and without delay) bring the collared mushrooms from the oven and quickly divide the soufflé mix between them and return it to the oven. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and if you are using the fresh truffle drop the slices onto the tops of the soufflés and return them to the oven as quickly as possible.
Cook for approximately 20 minutes until they are well risen. In the last 10 minutes prepare the salad garnish and arrange on the plates.
Slide the tray with the soufflés to the front of the oven and using a dry cloth quickly and very carefully remove the rings. Gently break open the collars and lift a soufflé onto each plate and serve immediately.

Tip

1. The soufflé is quite rich so the salad garnish should help bring the dish into balance and some bitterness in combination with your best EV olive oil and some very good balsamic is just the way to do it.
2. Want to avoid all of the degree of difficulty use a soufflé dish and don’t worry about the big mushroom. We prefer the shallower wider dish as they make it easier to avoid dry edges and under cooked centres. 11.5 cm diam x 5 cm give us the best results.