Rhubarb and Custard Soufflé
The Rhubarb Triangle is situated literally a few miles from where I live. It’s a 9 square mile triangle in West Yorkshire located within Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell and is famous for producing early forced rhubarb. Forced rhubarb is grown in sheds and picked in candlelight where you can actually hear it growing! Sadly, supplies are down this year due to the poor winter (there hasn’t been enough frost) and this will have an impact on sales. Oldroyds, one of the oldest suppliers in the country, are situated a few miles from where I live which is where I purchased the forced rhubarb used in this recipe.
Forced rhubarb is beautifully pink, sweet and has that characteristic tangy flavour. It pairs perfectly with a good vanilla custard. I decided to incorporate both flavours in a soufflé. There are a few ways you can do this, a simple way is to pour a little custard into the bottom of the ramekin along with some of the stewed rhubarb before topping with the uncooked soufflé mix then baking in the oven. Here’s my recipe:
5 free-range medium egg whites
unsalted butter, for greasing the ramekins
For the stewed rhubarb and custard:
1 tin Bird’s ready-made custard
4 ramekins (8cm wide x 5cm high)
Prepare the ramekins by greasing them with unsalted butter. Use upward strokes when doing this as it helps the soufflé to rise. Dust the ramekins with a little caster sugar.
At the base of the ramekin sits stewed rhubarb and custard, so make this first before you start whisking the egg whites for the soufflé.
To make the stewed rhubarb:
1. Cut 300g forced rhubarb into 1 inch pieces and gently cook until soft in a saucepan along with 4 tbsp demerara sugar. If it tastes too tart for your liking, add a little more sugar. What you’re looking for is a good balance between sweet and sour.
2. Once the rhubarb is cooked, let it cool before adding a few spoonfuls to the bottom of each ramekin. Top with a few teaspoons of cold ready-made custard. Don’t overfill the ramekins as you’ll need to leave plenty of room for the soufflé.
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan-assisted).
2. I incorporate a rhubarb purée into the soufflé. To make this stew 300g forced rhubarb with 3 tbsp sugar in a heavy based sauce pan with a lid for about five minutes until the fruit is tender.
3. Purée the fruit in a blender then pass through a sieve into a clean saucepan.
4. Mix 1 tbsp cornflour with 1 tbsp water to make a paste. Stir this into the puréed rhubarb. Bring to the boil stirring constantly. As soon as the purée has thickened, remove from the heat, set aside and leave to cool while you whisk the egg whites.
5. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy. Then add 40g caster sugar and continue to whisk until soft peaks form.
6. Add a third of the whisked egg whites to the cooled rhubarb purée and beat them in.
7. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.
8. Gently top-up the ramekins with the soufflé mixture. Use a palette knife to level the top of the soufflé.
9. Place the ramekins in the pre-heated oven and gently close the oven door. Bake for 15 minutes until well risen. Don’t open the oven door at all until the cooking time is over otherwise the soufflés may sink.
Carefully remove the soufflés from the oven, be gentle with them as if you are too heavy handed this may cause them to sink a little. Dust the soufflés with a little icing sugar and serve immediately.
