Roasted Garlic and Corn Souffle

I was having such luck with imitation eggs I thought I'd take a second stab at getting a souffle to rise - for my success story, see my post for Chocolate Souffles with Pistachios from February.

To begin this recipe, peel away the white papery skin from a whole head of garlic, but don't peel or separate the cloves. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let stand 10 minutes before squeezing out the pulp from each clove - discard the skins.

Combine the garlic pulp and 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels in a food processor and process until smooth. Set aside.

While the garlic is in the oven is a good time to prepare your souffle dish. Cut a piece of aluminum foil long enough to wrap around a 1-quart souffle dish. Fold into thirds, lengthwise (this seemed strange to me, since I figured it would render it too short, but it actually makes the foil just high enough to cover the height of the souffle dish, plus about an extra inch and a half on top, which is exactly what you want).

Coat the bottom of your souffle dish and one side of the aluminum foil with cooking spray. Wrap the foil - coated side in - around the dish (as I said, about an inch and a half will extend above the top of the dish). Secure the foil in place by tying a piece of string tight around it. Set aside.

Here's a visual of the prepared dish, since the instructions alone were confusing!



Place 1 and 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour in a saucepan. Gradually add 3/4 cup plain soy milk (such as Silk), stirring constantly with a whisk. Stir in the garlic puree. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Make the equivalent of 2 eggs using egg replacer (such as Ener-G), and place in a large bowl. Gradually add the hot soy milk mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Stir in another 1/2 cup corn kernels, 1 teaspoon chopped chives, 1/2 tsp. chopped thyme, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/8 tsp. nutmeg, 1/8 tsp. black pepper and a dash of ground red pepper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine 2 more eggs made with egg replacer and 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar - for this purpose, where you are imitating egg whites, I only recommend Ener-G. The trick to make your souffle actually rise is to beat with a mixer for 12 minutes - yes 12! Put on some good music.

Gently stir a quarter of your "egg whites" into the corn mixture, then gently fold in the rest. Pour into your prepared souffle dish. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then - without opening the oven door! - lower the temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake for an additional 45 minutes.

Alas, the unhappy end to all this is that my souffle did not rise as much as I hoped - so much for that foil collar! I wonder if it would have, had I used individual souffle dishes, which I may try next time. Either way, it was still quite yummy and souffles deflate just after you serve them anyway, right?

This makes enough for 3 side servings of 170 calories - you can easily double all the amounts here, though, and bake in a 2-quart souffle dish to feed 6 instead.

Cost:
head of garlic $0.45
corn $3.99
egg replacer $5.69
fresh chives $2.49
fresh thyme $2.49