Recipe courtesy of Home by Stephanie Alexander, Published by Macmillan, RRP $59.99, Photography by Armelle Habib
There are still some chefs working who learnt their craft at a time when French cuisine was prescriptive as far as technique was concerned. We may make fun of puff pastry swans, or flowers made from butter, but a classically trained French chef can produce a terrine, cure a fish, bone out a duck, make a perfect soufflé or a smooth custard or a glossy sauce. In turn they taught their apprentices. Nowadays, it is not unusual to find that young hopefuls cannot make basic preparations without instruction. And sadly are mostly ignorant of those who have blazed the trail. Because I am now one of the ‘olds’ I tut-tut at this dismissal of what has gone before and start to hear the echoes of my grandfather in the thoughts that come from my own mouth. Of course the young need to blaze a new trail but the trail will be more meaningful if it is built on good foundations!
For lovers of classical French cooking, chef Jacques Pépin will be well known. I was delighted to see Jacques on a YouTube clip recently, looking venerable and silver- haired, and to hear that he was 83! He was demonstrating this dish, which he said he learnt from his mother. A soufflé without whipping the whites. Judging from the comments the clip received, many others loved this recipe as much as I did. Jacques said the prepared pudding can rest for more than a day before baking. Ideal for a busy schedule. I needed a side dish for my Christmas slow-roasted pork, and I seized on this recipe, added cooked sweetcorn, slightly reduced the quantity and – hey presto! – a huge success. This side dish has now also become a favourite for brunch and, with a salad alongside, lunch.
Serves 4- 6
Ingredients
- sea salt
- 2 sweetcorn cobs
- 2 cups milk
- 80 g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing and baking
- 80 g plain flour
- freshly ground black pepper
- few drops of Tabasco (optional)
- 150 g gruyère cheese, grated
- 1⁄4 cup chopped chives
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1⁄4 cup freshly grated parmesan
- 5 large free-range eggs
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil over medium heat.
2. Strip and discard the husks and silk from the sweetcorn and simmer the cobs for about 10 minutes until a kernel tests done. Drain and allow to cool. Hold each cob upright by its stalk and shave the kernels from the cob onto your workbench using a heavy, large knife. Gather the kernels in a bowl and set aside.
3. Heat the milk in a small saucepan and set aside. In a heavy-based saucepan melt the butter over medium heat and when it is just foaming tip in all of the flour. Stir well using a flat wooden spoon or a whisk for a minute. This is a basic roux, the foundation of many classic French sauces. Gradually add the hot milk in three lots, stirring very well after each addition until the lumps smooth out. When all the milk has been added, stir until the sauce comes to a boil. Taste and add salt, pepper and Tabasco, if you are using it. The sauce will be very thick. Stir in the sweetcorn, gruyère, chives and parsley. Allow to cool for a minute or two.
4. While the sauce is cooling rub some butter around the base and sides of a wide 1.25 litre gratin dish. (It is important to choose a wide rather than deep dish. One scoops portions of this pudding and everyone wants some of the crusty top as well as the soft middle.) Scatter with half of the parmesan and turn the gratin dish to coat the sides. Break the eggs into a large bowl and whip really well, either with an electric stand mixer or for an energetic few minutes with a balloon whisk. Fold the eggs into the sauce thoroughly. Scrape the batter into the prepared gratin dish. Scatter over the rest of the parmesan and shave thin slices of butter over the surface.
5. Bake for 35 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Serve with a sharp-edged large spoon, scooping into the pudding so that every guest gets a fair helping of the crusty top.
Goatmilker - 2 years ago
Found it online – 80g plain flour!