Fun French Food Facts Archives - The French Magnolia Cooks

Easy Carrot Soufflé

by Missy | May 21, 2019

An Easy Carrot Soufflé

Are you intimated by the idea of a classic French soufflé. Me too, and I’m a chef! However, this easy carrot soufflé is truly simple and can be rustic or elegant. Most importantly, the flavor is impressive. In other words, this easy carrot soufflé is worth a tiny bit of effort and you can do it.

Eating a classic French soufflé is like licking an airy savory cloud. I would say that you don’t really eat a soufflé. You simply inhale a fluffy flavor.

What Is a Soufflé?
To me, a soufflé is any dish that is ‘puffed-up’ with egg and baked. That is to say, it’s a dish that is made from a sauce, a flavoring, egg yolks, beaten egg whites and then baked.

Soufflé or Fluffy Casserole?
Not every soufflé is meant to show-off like a top hat. For instance, you can soufflé-up a simple casserole by adding egg yolks, egg whites or both. At the end of the day, you can call it a soufflé or simply, a fluffy casserole. This easy carrot soufflé recipe is a hybrid. In short, it’s designed to be fluffy in texture but not tall. In other words, by the time you get it to the table, it will settle a little, but maintain it’s feather-like texture.

Fun French Food Facts

The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler which means to blow, to breathe, to inflate or to puff.

The earliest mention of the soufflé is attributed to French Master Cook Vincent de la Chapelle, in the early eighteenth century (1703-1745). Master Cook was a title that meant ‘head chef to a master’. In other words, a private chef to nobility. However, the popularization of the soufflé is attributed to French Master Cook, Marie-Antoine Carême, much later in 1784 – 1833.

Carême was an early practitioner of the elaborate style of cooking known as grande cuisine, or rather, haute cuisine. After the French Revolution, there were a lot of nouveau-riche in Paris, all of whom preferred the ‘high art’ of this newer French cuisine. Certainly, Carême is considered one of the first internationally renowned celebrity chefs.

The 'NO Cooking' French Meal with Chef Tips

About this Recipe

YIELDS: 6 ramekin portions

TIME: 30-40 minutes prep; 1 hour cooking, depending on your oven. DO NOT open that oven door while cooking.

QUICK NOTE: the first 6 steps can be done first thing in the morning, before work, the day of your dinner party. Cover and set everything on a tray in fridge for later that evening.

NEED: brûlée-type oven safe ramekins, a food processor, & either a counter mixer, hand mixer or balloon whisk.

KNOW: your souffle will settle after you pull it from the oven. Everyone’s does so don’t be upset. It will still look beautiful and taste delicious.

easy carrot souffle, The French Magnolia

Easy Carrot Soufflé –

SIMPLE MENU SUGGESTIONS

For many years, I worked way too hard at my own dinner parties. My advice, ask each couple or guest to bring something easy and inexpensive. Lighten the load so you can focus on something fun and imaginative, like an easy carrot soufflé.

Menu #1

Grilled steak & asparagus. Mushroom & sweet vidalia onion kabobs. Your beautiful and easy carrot soufflé. In addition, summer salad and fresh berries for dessert.

Menu #2

Grilled pork chops with rosemary butter and veggie kabobs. For example, yellow/green squash & sweet vidalia onion kabobs. Your beautiful and easy carrot soufflé. In addition, summer salad and fresh berries for dessert.

Easy Carrot Soufflé Ingredients

5 eggs
14 carrots (2 pound bag)
3 tbsp flour
1 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp unsalted butter for roux
2 tbsp unsalted butter (line the ramekins)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar (ramekins)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar for mixture
1 tbsp of dark molasses
1 teaspoon of real vanilla
1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tbsp of cracked black pepper

Easy Carrot Souffle – Step-by-Step!

Soufflé Ingredients, Easy Carrot Soufflé, The French Magnolia

Organization Leads to Simplicity

The first 6 steps can be done on party day, early in the morning. When you are ready to move forward, pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. You will lower to 350 degrees before baking. Pull 1 stick of unsalted butter and leave at room temperature to soften. Meanwhile, set out all of your ingredients. In addition, set out ramekins, mixer of choice, food processor, measuring spoons, whisk, soft spatula and a spoon to fill ramekins.

Step 1

DO AHEAD OF TIME. Peel and rough chop carrots. Boil in lightly salty water until soft. After that, drain. Save shavings for veggie stock or garden compost.

Step 2

DO AHEAD OF TIME. Put hot carrots into food processor. Add 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar, dark molasses, salt, pepper, nutmeg, & vanilla. Blend until smooth and creamy. Put in a bowl and set aside next to the stove.

Step 3

DO AHEAD OF TIME. Separate 5 eggs. Set eggs yolk aside next to your stove. Set egg whites aside next to the kitchen mixer. The egg whites will be beaten at the end.

Step 4

DO AHEAD OF TIME. Use fingers to butter ramekins with room temperature butter. Do not melt the butter. Simply use soft, room temperature butter.

cheese lined ramekins, easy carrot soufflé, The French Magnolia

Step 5

DO AHEAD OF TIME. Liberally line each ramekin with grated cheese.

mis en place, easy carrot soufflé, The French Magnolia

Step 6

DO AHEAD OF TIME. Put ramekins on a cookie sheet and set next to stove. Measure out your cream, flour and butter and put everything next to stove. Make sure your carrots, cheese, egg yolks and whisk are also next to the stove.

blonde roux, easy carrot soufflé, The French Magnolia

Step 7

NOW, you are ready to get going. Make a blonde roux. If you have never made a blonde roux, it’s ridiculously easy. It’s two steps. First, melt 3 tbsp of butter on low/medium heat. Get a little bubble going. Slowly add 3 tbsp of flour. Whisk. That’s it! Note: a darker roux for things like, crawfish ettouffe can take much longer.

Step 8

Whisk the roux, cooking the flour and butter together. 3 minutes over low/medium heat.

Step 9

Pour cream into roux and continue whisking and cooking. Maybe another 3 minutes over low/medium heat.

Hard Boiled Egg, The NO Cooking French Meal with Chef Tips

Step 10

Side note: if you were making a béchamel sauce, for a classic cheese soufflé, this is where you would add your cheese.

cook carrot, easy carrot soufflé, The French Magnolia

Step 11

Okay, back to the easy carrot soufflé recipe. Pour in the carrot mixture with all the seasonings and flavors already in it. Whisk together until creamy.

add egg, easy carrot soufflé, The French Magnolia

Step 12

Pull carrot soufflé mixture off heat – to the side. Add egg yolks and whisk in thoroughly. Set aside on a trivet or hot pad on the counter. And remember to turn off the stove – you’re welcome!

beat egg whites, easy carrot soufflé, The French Magnolia

Step 13

Pour raw egg whites into kitchen aid mixer. You can absolutely use a hand mixer or beat egg whites by hand with a whisk in a dry, metal bowl. If you are using a mixer, start on a low speed. When the whites begin to take shape, turn up your speed. After the egg whites are half-way, add 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. It will help your egg whites peak and stay firm.

Step 14

Gently coax your egg whites into pan and GENTLY FOLD in the egg whites with a spatula.

gently fold egg whites, easy carrot soufflé, The French Magnolia

Step 15

GENTLY FOLD in the egg whites until the white has blended. DO not whisk or stir egg white.

pre-cooked soufflé, easy carrot soufflé, The French Magnolia

Step 16

Lower oven to 350 degrees. Spoon mixture into ramekins almost to the top but not quite. Put your ramekins on cookie sheet and into the lower half of the oven. Most importantly, do not open that oven door. Seriously! Use oven light to check out your art work.

soufflés in oven, easy carrot soufflé, The French Magnolia

Step 17

Bake for 60 minutes at 350 degrees. Hey, did I mention not to open the oven door? If you have a super powerful fancy oven, your soufflés might be done in 50 minutes. Certainly, you want a nice golden brown top. Serve immediately.

I’m excited for you! Give it a try and leave a comment.

Cheers!

Chef Missy

fresh baked soufflés, easy carrot soufflé, The French Magnolia

NO Cooking French Meal with Chef Tips

by Missy | May 18, 2019

Thinking of an afternoon picnic in Paris? Me too, always! The NO Cooking French Meal with Chef Tips at home can temporality fill the void.

The lovely, dainty morsel called the French hors d’oeuvre is a true Frenchism adapted and consequently, abused by American food culture. That is to say, the French hors d’oeuvre literally means ‘outside the work’ and is a singular word.

What Is an Hors d’oeuvre?

To clarify, the hors d’oeuvre is designed to whet the appetite offering a salty food as a stimulant. A typical French hors d’oeuvre is a small salty bite. For example, a slurp of caviar, olives, salty nuts, a few bites of cured (salted) meat and pickled veggies like celery, cucumber or radishes.

Fun French Food Facts

In the late 1600’s wealthy Frenchmen picked at ‘hors d’eouvre’ before and throughout the entire meal. Little plates of salty bites included briny oysters, clams, stuffed eggs and cured beef tongue or braised quail.

Sometime around the late 1800’s, a more complicated hors d’oeuvre appeared on the scene called “dainty dishes”. These small plates presented a more substantial delight, possibly caviar or a small pastry case filled with bits of mushroom in a creme sauce. Subsequently, they were soon served as separate courses, many times after the soup course.

By the early 1850’s Americans had moved to a multi-course meal. After that, the term ‘appetizer’ appeared in England (then almost simultaneously in America) to provide the Anglophone with the equivalent of the French hors d’oeuvre.

About this Recipe

YIELDS: 2 to 4 people

TIME: 15 minutes total time

After a long day of cooking, my go-to is the NO cooking French Pu-Pu Platter for dinner. During my childhood in the late 60’s and early 70’s, a surge of Chinese restaurants opened in Atlanta and were all the rage.

As a young girl (and world adventurer in my own mind) I thought it was cool eating food from another country. I was introduced to the classic Chinese PuPu Platter, which is a tray of American-Chinese foods including egg rolls, spare ribs, chicken wings, fried wontons, and crab rangoon. I have always loved love Pu-Pu platters. So, I invented the French Pu-Pu Platter as a culinary staple in my home. As a result, I get to say, ‘pu-pu’. Yay!

Ingredients

1 sourdough baguette or rustic bread
1 unpasterized cheese or triple creme
chicken liver pate or truffle duck pate
sliced salami, chorizo or summer sausage
cornichon, olives & pickled veggies
cucumber, radish, asparagus, endive
canned fatty-fish
hard-boiled egg
good french sea salt, fleur de sel
fresh cracked pepper
extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
fresh herbs, thyme, rosemary or other
little knives, forks and a platter or board

NO Cooking French Meal – Chef Tips!

Learn The Secret To Simple French Mirepoix, Chef Missy

Chef Tip 1

Establish a budget.

Chef Tip 2

Pick one cheese. To clarify, I do not serve cheese before a meal. It destroys the palate. Therefore, the appetite. But for pu-pu platter, I pick one cheese. I like unpasterized & aged cheeses myself. Subsequently, I go for Gruyere or Comte, which are Alpine cheeses. Sometimes, a triple creme cheese, which means that the cheese has a higher percentage of milk fat.

Chef Tip 3

One long skinny, French baguette or slices of rustic bread. Slice and sprinkle with evoo and fresh thyme. Gluten-free crackers for those who need or choose.

Choosing Meats, The NO Cooking French Meal with Chef Tips

Chef Tip 4

Choosing meats. As a Chef, I make homemade chicken liver pate and truffle duck pate, but you can buy pate at nicer grocery stores. In addition, I welcome salami, chorizo sausage or Southern summer sausage.

french provencal vegetable casserole, The French Magnolia Cooks

Chef Tip 5

Choosing a brine. Try cornichons (tiny French pickles) and briney pitted olives. In addition, pickled veggies, which are now are available in grocery stores. My personal favorite, pickled okra.

Chef Tip 6

Choosing vegetables. Obviously, if you have left-over blanched or steamed veggies in the fridge, use them. After that, peel and slice English seedless cucumbers, salted radishes, endive lettuce, and celery all work nicely. Most importantly, de-string the celery. Yellow peppers are sweet and are wonderful with goat cheese

Chef Tip 7

Choosing canned fish. In short, the fattier, the better. Try wild-caught boneless sardines, smokes oysters, mackerel, pickled or smoked herring. As a Chef, I prefer both wild-caught and boneless of whatever I am buying. Above all, always keep canned fish on hand because they make an excellent quick meal or beach-hiking snack.

Chef Tip 8

Hard boiled egg wedges with evoo & fleur de sel. Certainly, left-over cold chicken too, with salt and pepper.

Other Chef Tips

Cans, Jars or Packages

classic/grain Dijon mustard
caviar
potato belinis
artichoke hearts
hearts of palm
artichoke bottoms
smoked salmon
smoked trout
pickled beets

Fresh Produce or To Make

fresh figs
oysters on the half-shell
chilled peel & eat shrimp
raw or roasted salty nuts
avocado (w/lemon)
sliced apple (w/ lemon)
dried fruit
scallions
asparagus
heirloom grape tomatoes
homemade hummus

Sommelier Wine Suggestions

Learn The Secret of Simple French Mirepoix, Chef Missy

White Bordeaux; Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion varietals. Sauvignon Blanc is the most readily available style of White Bordeaux. In short, expect big flavors and aromas predominantly of citrus, grapefruit, lemon and gooseberry.

Semillion offers a much richer profile than Sauvignon Blanc. In short, they express flavors of baked apples and pears, crème brûlée, carmelized grapefruit, orange zest, ginger, figs, lemon butter and even chamomile. Some of the better Sauvignon Blanc wines are blended with Semillion to provide a great balance and expression of the region.

Choosing Wines, The NO Cooking French Meal with Chef Tips

Red Burgundy; pinot noir grape. Lean in texture with complex flavors, these wines are dry with medium acidity. In addition, light old world overtones of cherry making this varietal a versatile choice for pairing with food.

Merlot is typically a dry, medium- to full-bodied wine with moderate acidity and soft but present tannins. The best Merlots have flavor notes ranging from graphite, herbs and blackberries, to black cherries, plums, and cocoa. Certainly, notes of clove, vanilla, and cedar when aged in oak.

Rhône Region wines; Northern Rhône reds made with Syrah are big, bold, spicy wines with a firm tannic structure in their youth. Southern Rhône red blends are based mainly on Grenache and have rounded, warm, red fruit flavors. Most importantly they tend to have elevated alcohol levels and beautiful ripe fruit.

Learn The Secret of Simple French Mirepoix

by Missy | May 11, 2019

Learn the secret of simple French mirepoix, (pronounced meer-PWAH). Certainly, improve every dish with easy recipe. Nothing transfixes the soul like the aromatic and savory characteristics of mirepoix. Elevate every-day roast chicken or restore the body and mind with a more flavorful bone broth. Most importantly, transport the senses with a correctly toned French sauce — all with mirepoix.

What is Mirepoix?

For me, as a chef, Mirepoix is a buttery, wine-laced stock garnished with an aromatic mixture of carrots, onions, celery and a bouquet garni. To clarify, classic French mirepoix is diced carrots, onions and celery cooked in some form of fat, such as butter or duck fat. The savory combination greatly enhances the flavor of every dish. For example, sauces, soups, stews and roast meats. The onions and celery celebrate aromatic flavors and the carrots for their sweetness. Of course, is helpful that they are both available at the same time, and have incredible nutrient value. So, let’s learn the secret of simple French mirepoix.

About this Recipe

YIELDS: between 4 to 5 cups

TIME: 15 minutes prep; 30 minutes without wine; 45 minutes cook time with wine.

NUTRITION: onion & celery are low in calories & fat, but high in vitamins and minerals. Also, they act as sponges for toxins soaking them in along the way. As a result, they are super foods for your immune system.

Carrots are sweet and are quoted as being high in sugar. However, they are excellent at lowering blood sugar levels. Similarly, they are high in vitamins and minerals.

Ingredients

2 parts onion, 1 part celery, 1 part carrot
2 chopped onion (16 ounces)
4-5 stalks chopped celery (8 ounces)
4 carrots, chopped (8 ounces)
5 cloves of garlic
1-2 cups of dry sherry or white wine
1 lemon
good french sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
4 tablespoons herbs de provence
1 bunch of fresh thyme
5 tablespoons unsalted butter

Step by Step Instructions