Opening a new blog with a chocolate soufflé

Welcome to enter my brand new food blog! I have been maturing the idea of a blog for a longer time now, and finally, here it is.

I get inspired by food, very much so. I like to stimulate my senses with it. Another thing that strongly inspires me is cinema as a form of art. Especially important for me are the films of French new wave, directors like Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Éric Rohmer, Jaques Rivette and Alain Resnais. My ultimate girl crush is of course Anna Karina, who’s known as a muse of Godard, as well as the star of several Nouvelle Vague films. As maybe obvious when considering my love for French new wave, the inspiration for the title of this blog is taken from Nouvelle Vague too. One of my absolute favorites in this film genre is Jean-Luc Godard’s À Bout de Souffle (Breathless by its English title), starred by Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg.

Photo: fact.co.uk

Photo: fact.co.uk

Photo: fact.co.uk

Besides being a place for myself to save the recipes that I have successfully (or not always so successfully) tried along the time, the purpose of this blog is to inspire and get inspired by other food (or film) lovers. After all, food is not only a source of nutrition, but a source of life in many other ways too. It’s nutrition for senses, for soul, for social interaction and gatherings. It’s succeeding, sometimes failing and learning. It’s something for relaxation, for your own time, or something for enjoying together. So feel free to comment, ask and share your ideas with me!

The only possible way to kick off this blog is with a recipe of soufflé, a lightweight French cake based on egg whites beaten to glossy meringue, typically baked in small size ramekins for a beautiful look. It’s a delicate form of art, this making of a soufflé and everyone who once tried it, knows how easily they fall flat. I succeeded pretty well this time, although my soufflés ended up being much smaller than in the original recipe.

The recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart. I added my own chocolaty twist with a ganache, the simple recipe of it can be found below.

Fluffy Chocolate Soufflés (6 small ones)

150g bittersweet chocolate (I prefer the ones containing at least 70 % of cocoa)

6 tablespoons sugar + some extra for baking dishes

250ml milk

5 large egg whites

3 large egg yolks

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Unsalted butter, for baking dishes

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 200 C. Butter your chosen baking dishes (this recipe is enough for approximately 6 of 150ml dishes, I made mine in small coffee cups) and coat with sugar.

Chop chocolate and melt it in a plastic/glass bowl in a microwave or placing the bowl over a pot of boiling water. Stir occasionally until smooth. Set aside and keep warm.

Heat up the milk in a saucepan but don’t let it boil. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer combine yolks and 4 tablespoons of sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in flour until well combined. Still mixing, slowly add half of the hot milk.

Add mixture to the saucepan with remaining milk. Bring to boil stirring constantly. Simmer for 2-3 minutes more, then add the melted chocolate. Transfer into a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and keep warm.

In a bowl, beat egg whites using an electric mixer until the mixture forms soft peaks (approx. 5 minutes). In the original recipe it says to add a pinch of cream of tartar in this phase, but as I am unfamiliar with this product, I omitted it. Gradually add 2 remaining tablespoons of sugar and mix until stiff and shiny.

Gently spoon 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add the rest of the whites and mix carefully. Spoon the batter into the baking dishes and bake for 12-15 minutes until the soufflés have risen slightly and become crusty. Don’t open the oven while baking.

Dust the soufflés with confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately with warm chocolate ganache.

Easy Chocolate Ganache

100ml heavy cream

100g semi-sweet chocolate

Chop chocolate in a small saucepan, pour in the cream and heat up until silky and smooth.