Spoonbread Soufflé
with lemon confit, toasted hazelnuts and Capriole goat cheese
recipe by Chef Ouita Michel and photography by Talitha Schroeder
This is our gourmet take on an old Kentucky favorite — spoonbread. In this version we top it with slow cooked lemons, fresh goat cheese and some nuts. This is a great first course in 4-ounce buttered ramekins or, if you’d like, use a 2-quart baking dish, either glass or ceramic, and serve it family-style as a side dish.
Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
½ cup white cornmeal (you can substitute yellow if necessary)
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon. salt
2 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives or your favorite soft spring herb
3 egg yolks
5 egg whites
6 oz. fresh Capriole goat cheese- shaped into 1 ounce patties
¼ cup toasted and chopped hazelnuts
¼ cup roughly chopped lemon confit—recipe follows, but make it ahead!
Directions
Preheat oven to 375℉ for convection or 400℉ for a conventional oven and butter your ramekins or baking dish.
Heat the milk in a double boiler or in a bowl over a simmering pot of water.
Whisk in the cornmeal and stir until it is the consistency of mush or thickened like a polenta.
Add the baking powder, salt, and butter and stir until all the butter is melted and incorporated.
Remove bowl from heat. Whisk the 3 yolks together and beat them into the cornmeal mush along with the chives. Whisk the 5 egg whites together until stiff. Fold the egg whites into the mush.
Spoon into six buttered ramekins or a 2qt dish. Be sure to fill the ramekins to the top. For ease of handling, place the ramekins on a baking sheet.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes if using individual ramekins or 30-35 minutes if using a 2-quart dish. Either way, the soufflés will be puffed and the tops still a little wobbly when almost done.
When the spoon bread is almost complete, lay the goat cheese on the top and complete the baking for the final 2 minutes.
Remove and sprinkle the top with lemon confit and toasted hazelnuts. Serve immediately!
Lemon Confit (make this first!)
Ingredients
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
1 large lemon, preferably organic
Directions:
Combine the water and sugar together in a sauce pan and simmer until all the sugar has dissolved.
Wash the lemon (!!) and slice as thin as you can, removing seeds as you go.
Place in a shallow baking dish, pour the syrup over the lemon slices and bake in a 200℉ oven until soft, approximately 2 hours.
Check on them occasionally and if they are floating to the top and drying out, flip the slices over and/or cover with foil.
Cool and reserve. Once cool, pull the slices from the syrup and cut for the confit — we cut each slice into quarters. Extra confit and syrup can be stored in the refrigerator in its syrup for a week or two. It’s worth it to make a little extra and follow our tips for leftovers.
Related Content
Soufflé Tips & Tricks
Soufflés are fun to make and so much easier than you think! Here are some tips to smooth the way and ideas for using your extra lemon confit.
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