Leek, Potato, and Mushroom Soufflé

Yes, I know. Soufflés are crazy. They fall. They don't rise to begin with. They don't taste better than quiche and are so much harder to get right! And yet, there is so very much satisfaction to be gained from pulling a soufflé out of the oven with the knowledge that you, little old you, have attained such clichéd kitchen mastery.

Here's a secret: the potatoes help! They create starchy structure that make this particular dish much more likely to stand tall. So, especially if this is your first soufflé adventure, this is a great recipe to use. I based my recipe very closely off of one in last week's NYT: Leek and Potato Soufflé with Ham and Fontina. If you're a meat-eater, by all means try the original recipe; it's probably delicious! Being a vegetarian, I opted to mess around a bit with the ingredients and ended up very happy with the result. Also, I was cooking for two, and in retrospect I think I would have tried to more or less halve the recipe and use a 1 qt. soufflé dish so as to avoid leftovers. The leftovers weren't bad, but it was best fresh.

For this recipe, you'll need two things: a 2 qt. soufflé dish (although a deep casserole dish might work?), and some form of hand beaters (see above) or a mixer to work with the egg whites. I've tried whisking egg whites to stiff peaks before. Believe me, it ain't pretty. I almost never go for working with electronic cooking implements, because I so enjoy the process of doing everything by hand, but if you haven't got one of those handheld beaters (my new favorite kitchen implement, by the way), put the egg whites in the mixer and plug it in.

Ingredients

Oh Trader Joe's. You are just the cutest thing.
Even your potatoes are friendly.

-1.5 lbs preferably yellow-fleshed potatoes, chopped and peeled (if you like)
-about 1 c milk and 1/4 cup cream. Or all milk, or half-and-half, or cream
-salt and pepper to taste
-2 TB butter, divided
-1.5 leeks, split down the center and chopped relatively thinly. 
-1/2 tsp. dried thyme 
-1/2 tsp. dried oregano
-3 minced cloves of garlic
-cayenne to taste
-1/2 red pepper, diced
-3 oz mushrooms, diced
-4 oz. grated cheese (we used a gruyere-cheddar hybrid, but a fontina or swiss could also be nice)
-3 eggs, separated
-a couple TB of grated parmesan


Procedure
1. Boil the potatoes and mash them with the milk or cream and a bit of salt and pepper. Cool slightly
2. Pre-heat the oven to 375°F, coat a 2 qt. soufflé dish with butter and sprinkle the bottom and sides with parmesan.









3. Heat 1.5 TB butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the leaks, along with some salt and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes until softened but still very green. Add in the garlic, red pepper, thyme, and oregano and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the leeks mix to the potato mix. 

4. Add the other half TB of butter to the skillet, and saute the mushrooms over medium high heat until they release their liquid and are nicely brown, then stir into the potato mix along with the cheese and a bit of cayenne. Adjust the seasonings, making it a little stronger than you think it should be to make up for the eggs. 

5. Separate the eggs, placing the whites into a medium bowl and mixing the yolks into the potato mixture.  Use your hand beater or electric mixer to peat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the potato mix, and then quickly and gently fold in the other 2/3s. 

                                       soft peaks

stiff peaks

6. Scrape the batter into the soufflé dish and top with grated parmesan.
7. Bake for about 40-50 minutes until nicely browned. Check with a toothpick or skewer, but keep in mind that the potatoes add some moisture that will leave the toothpick looking a bit damp even when it's done--don't assume it's raw egg!

8. Remove carefully from the oven and serve. 

Bhangra Burrito

My parents both grew up with mothers who cooked. To be fair, I guess many children of the late 50s did, although not nearly so many turned into parents who cooked for their own kids. My Mom and Dad both did, and I'm grateful.


I associate my grandmothers' California kitchens with cookbooks. Lots of cookbooks. A few years ago, when I was visiting my grandma in Berkeley, The Rebar Modern Food Cookbook caught my eye. Rebar is a restaurant in Victoria that specializes in mostly-veggie, hippie cuisine, and my grandma had visited with her brother some time back.

Grandma, ever indulgent when it comes to her granddaughters, caught me pouring through the cookbook and said I could have it. It's become one of my very favorites. The recipes are imaginative but not weird, fanciful but not fancy (for the most part). A lot of what Rebar does is take staple recipes, like lasagne and cream of broccoli soup, and spin them into exciting variations. There are some awesome desserts as well, both classic and not, and there's a great section detailing methods for "basics" like peanut sauce, salsas, chile paste, and whole wheat pastry.

Rebar has two recipes for burritos. One is a more traditional take with beans and squash and corn. The other hops down to the subcontinent, producing a wrap that's essentially an easily-packaged packet of Indian curry. I made a few small changes to the original recipe to accomodate my family's pantry, but what's below is very close to what's in the book.

Ingredients
-4 garlic cloves
-1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
-1 hot pepper (jalepeno, poblano, whatever you've got)
-1 red pepper
-6 roma tomatoes (I didn't have these, so I used three small tomatoes, plus about a half cup of canned)


-3 TBS vegetable oil
-1 medium onion, diced
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp ground cumin
-1 tsp ground coriander
-1 tsp sweet paprika
-1/4 tsp. tumeric
-1/2 tsp. (preferably freshly) ground pepper
-1 15-20 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained


-1.5 lbs potatoes, diced (we used russets-- the original called for red)


-1/2 cup cilantro, stemmed and chopped
-1.5 cups spinach or baby spinach, stemmed and sliced into ribbons 
-tortillas or wraps


Procedure
1) Roughly chop garlic, ginger, hot pepper, red pepper, and tomatoes, and put in a food processor until they form a course purée.

2) Put 2 TBS oil in a large pan and heat over medium. Sauté onion with half the salt until translucent, then add the cumin, coriander, paprika, tumeric and pepper. Add the purée from above and simmer 5-10 minute. Add chickpeas and cook another 5-10 minutes.






3)Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 450°F. Toss potatoes with the last TBS of oil and the remaining salt. Spread onto a baking sheet and roast until lightly golden and soft, about 15-20 minutes. Toss potatoes with the chickpea mix. 


4) Take a tortilla and spread spinach ribbons down the center, topped with a bit of cilantro. Spoon on curry, roll up, and place in an oiled baking dish. Repeat until out of filling. We made 6 tortillas, using 6-inch wraps, and had some filling left over. Cover and bake for 20-30 minutes until heated through and a bit crispy. We served ours with a bit of yogurt. Chutney would also be nice.