Ooo lay.. souffle!

Sunday, Williams Sonoma technical cooking class. Subject, souffles - savory and sweet.

I'd been wanting to (needing to) do something regarding cooking, though I find myself struggling with a bit of the uninspired melancholy funk as of late. My motivation has gone to shit on trying to lose weight as well, though I may find myself on the bike this evening.

So standing in the WS store on Sunday afternoon, to watch the technical demonstration on souffles was good. It's one of those things that you if you've watched any number of cooking shows or used any number of recipes and always had a nagging question afterwards. Salted or unsalted butter, what size eggs, cold or room temperature, how to melt chocolate properly, etc., etc. It's also a good class to confirm things you know, what are soft peaks vs stiff peaks on egg whites, folding in egg whites, and understanding that certain things just can't be rushed in making a meal.

The class consisted of a chocolate souffle and a leek & Gruyere souffle. I'm partial to the leek and Gruyere, the chocolate seemed a like a failed attempt at making a cake.

So needless to say we have souffle on the menu for the week, spinach & bacon. Also planned is a quiche, which is a hit and miss with me. I'm going to have to scan the souffle guide I got and post it up here soon.

Additionally I picked up a very nice heavy duty ricer, which I promptly used last night in my cream of broccoli soup (recipe courtesy of M Bittman - How to Cook Everything). Though I did not have stock on hand I used some Knoor Chicken bouillon and added some herbs, thyme, dill, and oregano, along with garlic salt.

Came out good, I didn't make it creamy smooth it was a bit on the rough side, but still good, I have about half a gallon.