CHEESE & SPRING ONION SOUFFLES WITH GEMS AND RED MUSTARD CRESS

It makes a wonderful starter with a nice salad, or alternatively serve with fish and a creamy white sauce, as we did at Sharrow Bay.

CHEESE AND SPRING ONION SOUFFLÉS WITH GEMS AND RED MUSTARD CRESS
Ingredients (makes 6)
4 ramekins
25g soft butter
25g dried breadcrumbs
225ml full fat milk
40g butter
2 spring onions finely sliced
40g flour
1 good teaspoon English mustard
75g Gruyere cheese grated
75g cheddar cheese grated
3 yolks
3 egg whites
Sea salt & freshly milled pepper
For the salad
1 baby gem lettuce
1 small box red mustard cress
Dash walnut oil
Squeeze lemon juice
Method
1. First pre-heat the oven to 160°C and heavily grease the four ramekins with the 25g butter, dust well with the breadcrumbs until well coated.
2. To make the soufflé, bring the milk to the boil. Meanwhile, in another pan, add the 40g of butter and spring onion and gently cook for a couple of minutes until the spring onions have wilted. Add the flour to make a thick paste, stir in the mustard.
3. Slowly add the milk in four or five batches, stirring in well each time.
4. Add the grated cheeses and remove from the heat. Place in a large bowl and allow to cool until warm.
5. Beat in the yolks, meanwhile whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until light and fluffy and fold into the spring onion and cheese mixture.
6. Divide between the ramekins and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until light and cooked.
7. To make the salad, separate the gem lettuces into a bowl along with the cress, drizzle over the walnut and a good squeeze of lemon juice, season with sea salt and freshly milled pepper and separate between four plates. Turn out the souffles when cooked.