Rhubard and Lemon Soufle
This is based on a recipe from St John’s college Cambridge. The chef, Bill Brogan, delights in finding unusual and old recipies. I took his origional and modified it to work with one of my favourite ingredients Rhubard. It is a really delightful dish, best served hot before it deflates. Its a snap to cook, I prep this in about 15 minutes.
- 3 stalks tender young Rhubard
- 1 tbsp Brown Sugar
- 150ml warm water
- 100g Caster Sugar
- Juice and Grated Zest of one Lemon
- 100g very soft butter (unsalted or slightly salted)
- 4 eggs, seperated
- Chop the Rhubard, then poach in a little water and the Brown Sugar. once boiling it only needs a couple minutes. You want the Rhubard tenderised, but still in seperate pieces, not gone to mush.
- By Warm water, it means just above hand hot. Just uncomfortable to touch, but not so it burns you. Mix the Caster Sugar, Lemon Juice and Zest, and the butter into the water. Whisk it until the butter has melted. It may form small globules on the top, this is OK.
- Lightly beat the egg yolks, then also whisk into the previous mixture. Whisk until its all incorporated, but don’t froth it too much.
- Whisk the egg yolks until they are stiff. Fold the yolk, butter and sugar mixture into the stiff egg whites. Do it gently to mix all ingredients, but lightly to ensure the resulting mix stays light and airy.
- Butter six to 10 ramekins, depending on size. Spoon some of the Rhubarb pieces into the bottom of each (just the Rhubard, don’t put in much liquid), then spoon the egg mixture on top.
- Prepare a bain marie. This is a roasting tin filled with a couple centemeters of warm water. Put the bain marie into a 150C degree oven, then place the ramekins into the water. Bake for about an hour and serve hot.