Nourished

Roux

Roux

Roux Brothers Soufflés Suissesse

This savoury soufflé is one of the Roux Brother’s signature dishes, and is one of their first and finest.  The soufflés are cooked in a cream sauce at the last minute to add to the richness of the dish.  The recipe was demonstrated on the Roux Legacy documentary in 2012.
Ingredients:

140 g butter, plus extra for greasing
65 g flour
700 ml milk
5 egg yolks
6 egg whites
1 litres double cream
200 g grated Gruyere or Emmental cheese

Method:
  1. For the soufflé: Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Melt 65g of the butter in a small saucepan set over low heat. Using a small wire whisk, stir in the flour and cook gently for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously. 
  2. Take the pan off the heat and leave the roux to cool slightly. Bring the milk to the boil, then pour it slowly over the cooled roux, whisking all the time. Set the pan over high heat and, stirring continuously, bring the mixture to the boil and cook for 3 minutes. 
  3. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the egg yolks. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Pour the soufflé mixture into a wide-mouthed bowl and dot the surface with 1 tbsp of the butter, cut into small pieces, to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside to cool to room temperature. 
  4. Meanwhile, chill 8 round 8cm tartlet tins in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes. Remove and immediately grease them generously with softened butter and arrange on a baking sheet. 
  5. To assemble: Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks. Using a whisk, quickly beat one-third of the egg whites into cooled soufflé mix, then, using a spatula, carefully fold in the remainder to completely blend them. Using a tablespoon, heap the mixture into the tartlet tins on the baking tray. 
  6. Pour the cream into a saucepan. Lightly salt the cream then warm gently on the hob, over a low heat without letting it boil. Pour the cream into a warmed gratin dish that is big enough to hold all 8 tartlet tins. 
  7. To cook: Bake the tray of soufflés in the preheated oven for 3 minutes, until the tops begin to turn golden. Remove from the oven and protecting your hands with a cloth, turn out each soufflé into the gratin dish of warm cream. Sprinkle over the Gruyere or Emmental and return to the oven for 5 minutes. The soufflés must be taken immediately to the table; serve them with a spoon and fork, taking care not to crush them.

Coconut

Tribute Dish – the Roux Pre-Dessert – panna cotta, jelly and granita… [Thermomix]

At Roux Parliament Square, the pre-dessert is a panna cotta, topped with a jelly, and then a refreshing granita. On the day I went we had a coconut/passion fruit/lime, but I notice from trawling reviews that they also do apple/apple/cucumber (yum!), pineapple/coconut/kaffir lime, strawberry/strawberry/meringue.  So it’s a very successful formula, onto which you can put your own twist.  If you’re going to do this regularly, you’ll need some better glasses than mine, I’m on the lookout for something far prettier, a little like this…

I love dishes like this, you immediately wonder what flavour combinations you’d be able to get away with – is whackier better? Could you go liquorice/pernod/blackberries like some ’80’s throwback drink? How about plum/Prucia liqueur/plum… [I recently discovered Pruci at Gerry’s in Soho, the most amazing stuff! It’s made from the Japanese Ume plum, macerated in grape spirit and aged in French oak barrels – one of the most addictive things I’ve tried in ages!] How about bergamot/apple/elderflower? Earl Grey/Bergamot/Lime? Matcha/coconut/matcha?   

The Roux Panna Cotta

Actually, because I’ve been cooking all weekend, I thought I might try Fruit Tea/Pimms/Cosmopolitan Mixer and massively cheat.  That may be a bad idea, but the grand thing about a thermomix is that it will only take 20 mins or so of prep to try the whole thing out – so why not?

Fruit Tea Panna Cotta (adapted from the Daily Mail). 
3 gelatine leaves
200ml semi-skimmed milk
300ml double cream
50g caster sugar
2 fruit tea bags

A quick adaptation of the standard Thermomix panna cotta recipe gives us a combined technique of…

  1. Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes. 
  2. Meanwhile, put the milk, cream and caster sugar into the thermomix and cook for 6 minutes / 80ºC / Speed 3
  3. Drain the gelatine and squeeze to remove the excess water. Add to the thermomix and stir for 3 minutes / speed 3 to dissolve the gelatine.
  4. Tip into a bowl, then add the tea bags and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.
  5. Remove the tea bags, pour the mixture into your glasses and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or until set – there should be a slight wobble in the centre.
Tips: Now, getting this panna cotta neatly into the glass is going to drive you insane! Make sure you know where your funnel is, and that it fits your glass, before you begin!  I ended up using a sauce bottle, you know the kind, for putting little dots around the plate – still ended up with the odd splash…
Pimms Jelly  (adapted from the Daily Mail)
50g caster sugar
50ml water
Squeeze of lemon juice
2 gelatine leaves
100ml  Pimm’s
100ml  lemonade

Not going to do this in the thermomix.  

  1. Put the sugar, water and lemon juice into a saucepan and heat gently until dissolved. Simmer for 5 minutes. 
  2. Place the gelatine in a shallow bowl, cover with water and soak for 4 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water, then add the gelatine to the pan to dissolve. 
  3. Cool, then add the Pimm’s and lemonade. Cool at room temperature. 

Before you put the jelly onto the panna cotta, make sure it is completely set!  From past experience I’ve found it best to put a tiny layer of jelly on first, allow this one to set, then add the rest of your jelly layer – this gives you a clear jelly.  I know this picture has a frosted glass, it’s just come out of the fridge.  But look at the jelly layer – you can just make out the first, slightly milky layer, and then the clearer jelly on top. Do take the time to do this step properly if you’re doing it for guests – but hey – my kids didn’t even look at it!

Cosmopolitan Mixer Granita:
100ml Funkin passionfruit syrup
2 pouches of Funkin Cosmopolitan Mixer
Juice of 1/2 lime
Ice cubes to blend into a granita
I’m going to cheat, because I can :0)  Put the juicy bits into the thermomix and add enough ice cubes to blend into a granita.  Make sure you really get a fine grain, as the flavour is much stronger in a finer grain than a really gravelly granita (if you’re using a thermomix that is – will not apply to a normal granita if you make it in the traditional way, as your flavour is your ice!).  As usual, mine is far too ungainly, but the flavour is there. I’m going to find a more appropriate glass, and cut back on the quantity and roughness of the granita.  Having said that, the panna cotta is flipping perfect! Absolutely the right amount of wobble, smooth, creamy, so I’ll use those ratios again!  Think I’d be more inclined too to make a proper granita, the thermomix one is great if your in a hurry, but the texture is difficult to gauge like that.






Eggs

Truffles and Eggs…

Typically a truffle will last for around a week in normal kitchen conditions, and during that time you can maximise it’s impact by infusing it’s scent into other ingredients.


You should store it in a glass container, rather than a plastic one, but typically this is what I do :

This allows me to have truffle scented risotto, and even better, the best scrambled egg imaginable.  The egg shells being porous allow the truffle to permeate the egg.  You could also make a very luxurious eggs Benedict.

If you are going to poach your eggs, the most efficient method I’ve found to date is the Marcus Wareing one – instead of putting vinegar into the pan, you put a tiny amount into a little bowl (or wipe the bowl around with the vinegar) and crack an egg into it.  This causes the egg white to coagulate and when you tip it into the water, you’ll end up with a beautiful poached egg!  Don’t forget to season your water too, for the perfect egg.  Poached Eggs

Another magnificent eggy dish is the Michel Roux’s recipe for:

Truffled Eggs en Cocotte

4 eggs
60g fresh black truffles
6tbsp double cream
30g softened butter
salt and freshly grated papper
60g Emmenthal or Comte, grated

Pur the eggs in an airtight container with the truffles and keep in the fridge for at least 24 hours or 48 hours if possible to allow the aroma of the truffles to permeate the eggs.

Slice the eggs as thinly as possible [if you don’t have a truffle slicer, do use a mandolin, carefully].  Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan, then immediately drop in the truffles and turn off the heat.  Stir the truffles into the cream with a spoon, cover the pan, and set aside until almost cold.

Preheat the oven to 170oC / Gas 3.  Brush the insides of 4 cocottes or ramekins, about 8cm in diameter and 4cm deep, with the softened butter and season with salt and pepper.  Put three-quarters of the grated cheese into one cocotte and rotate it to coat the inside.  Tip the excess cheese into a second cocotte and repeat to coat all 4 dishes.

Didvid the cooked cream and truffle mixture between the cocottes,  Carefully tip an egg into each one, sprinkle on the remaining cheese, and bake the eggs until cooked to your liking.  The cocotte can be cooked by putting the dishes into a greaseproof paper lined baking tray.  Fill the pan with boiling water up to half the height of the cocotte and put in the oven for around 10 minutes.  The egg white should be just set, with the yolk still loose…  Put a cocotte on each plate and serve.

You can find this recipe and many more in: