Tuesday, January 18, 2011

If Julia Can Do it...

I remember as a young child watching Julia Child and The Galloping Gourmet with my mother.

As the years passed, cooking shows were often on, mostly on public television.  I loved watching them.

Occasionally, a souffle would be the star of the show.   I recall my dad asking mom to make a cheese souffle.  Too much work she would say. Of course, I am certain she was also thinking how do I feed 8 of us a souffle?  I would be breaking eggs forever!


When I came across this recipe for Amaranth Souffle I was intrigued.  A grain in a souffle?  Heck, it has gouda in it so how bad could it be?

No.  Not bad.  Quite the opposite as a matter of fact.  Very. Very. Gouda.

Sorry, could not resist!


I had planned on a side of sauteed spinach, but was starving after getting home from the gym.  I got the souffle done and into the oven, then decided to make a spinach salad as a side.  I wanted the salad to be the real star, and the souffle as a side dish.

This salad was a great way to hold us over until the souffle was ready.

Bagged spinach, spicy pecans from Trader Joe's (crackalicious) and dried pomegranates from Trader Joe's as well.  This could be an amazing dinner salad with some protein; maybe some garbanzo beans or some goat cheese, or grilled chicken.  Or all of them!



We lessen dishes we have to wash by just sharing the salad off the plate!  


This was half the recipe; designed to feed 3 it fed 2!


Some recipe notes:

I made the amaranth on Sunday and used it cold out of the refrigerator.  No problem.

I grated the cheese on my box grater.  Easy.

I followed the directions exactly.  Don't change a thing.  Don't use Cooking spray instead of butter.  Don't use a low fat cheese.  Don't even think on messing with the eggs.  Yes, the recipe is high in saturated fats, but when you balance out your choices during the rest of the day, you can do it!

nutrition facts



So, the recipe says bake until brown and puffed...never actually giving a time.  It might have been helpful if I had paid attention for you so that I could tell you, but I was busy making and eating the salad!

I loved this one.  Go the the Rancho Gordo site, order some amaranth (and some beans while you are there) and make this.  

Enjoy!

Good night!

Kel


10 comments:

  1. OOH, this looks so good! I've never made a souffle before...aren't they tricky? They collapse easily?

    Is it something I'd have a hard time eating only one serving of? Cause it looks like it.

    So right about fitting it in...I'm having a bowl of chocolate ice cream right now, and I'm still on the low end of my (green) fat. Excellent...

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  2. Well, there was a reason I made only half the recipe!

    Not sure how leftovers would be.

    Souffles can collapse, but Ben was under strict orders to not stomp around the kitchen. I took the picture very quickly afte removing from the oven. Even after scooping out the first serving, it held up quite well!

    If you love spoon bread, you will love this!

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  3. I had a feeling. AND - I have amaranth and the weekend is coming up, no excuses!

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  4. what are the dimensions of the dish you used, by the way?

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  5. I am guessing at these dimensions - Six inches across, 3 inches deep?

    Maybe a 1 quart capacity?

    Hope this helps!

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  6. Dude I love those spicy TJ's pecans. Pure genius to put them in a spinach salad! I vow not to make this souffle until my saturated fat levels are well under control, but I will not forget this is here.....

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  7. Only a week ago I was telling my daughter how I learned to cook by watching the Galloping Gourmet with my grandmother. How funny? I want to try the souffle

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  8. Beautiful.

    So amaranth is a grain? Sounds more like a spice--a very strong spice, like anise or cinnamon. Goes to show how well I pay attention.

    I love souffle--the Frenchier the cheese, the better. Love Gouda, but wonder if I would love it with Gruyere even more? Anyway, if you say follow the recipe exactly and it works, I will try it.

    Looks abfab.

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  9. My girls love watching old episodes of Julia with me! We DVR it at their request. Last time we were in DC, my husband took the kids to the Smithsonian while I worked and they were so excited to report that they'd seen Julia's actual kitchen...

    I've been wanting to try this recipe for such a long time. You've inspired me to bump it up to next week!

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