Spinach Onion and Cheese Souffle


Cooking is all about flavors, aroma, tastes, and a whole lot of imagination! It's great to experiment with different ingredients and imagine how they would pair with each other, whether they compliment one another, or result in a stark contrasting taste. Sometimes these culinary concoctions can go awry, but most of the times it's fun, and results into something that leaves a tasty impression. Luckily for us, there are some things that just "click together", like chocolate and cookies, pasta and bread, my husband and me:), or in this case, spinach and cheese!! You can hardly go wrong with Spinach and Cheese, so for my first souffle recipe, I decided to go for a safer bet. I added two of my favorite ingredients, garlic and onions, threw in a pinch of nutmeg, and we had a luscious, good-looking and healthy Spinach Onion and Cheese Souffle for our dinner. People do get intimidated sometimes at the thought of making a souffle or casserole recipe, including me, but it's not that tough, and actually tastes great!

Ingredients
1 bag (16 oz) frozen chopped spinach
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
4 cloves of garlic - minced
4 tbsp onion - finely chopped
salt and black pepper - to taste
1/4 tspn ground nutmeg (optional)
3 eggs - white and yolk separated
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Method
Thaw and cook spinach in boiling water for at least 8-10 mins. Remove from water and let it drip off the water spinach in a colander; squeeze well to remove water content. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a casserole dish (or individual ramekins)with cooking spray and keep ready. Also separate the egg whites and egg yolks.

Heat butter and garlic in a saucepan over medium low heat. When butter has melted, add flour and stir until smooth and bubbling, and it turns just a little brown. Add salt and black pepper according to your taste. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. When the mixture is thick and boiling, remove from heat.

Turn off heat and stir in egg yolks, onion, spinach, cheese and sprinkle the nutmeg.

Beat only the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form soft peaks. Stir a couple of spoonfuls into the spinach mixture. This is the crucial part; beat the egg whites more to allow them to fluff up the mixture when it goes into the oven. Very gently,preferably with rubber spatula, fold in remaining whites.

Now pour the batter into prepared dishes. The souffle is going to rise a lot, so make sure you leave enough room for it to expand, especially when you are using ramekins (just fill a little over half) Bake until souffle has risen and is browned on top, about 15 to 20 minutes for individual dishes (longer time for a larger casserole dish). Use a thin skewer or toothpick to check inside for moistness. It should be a little sticky and creamy at the center, but not uncooked.

The Spinach and Cheese Souffle is best enjoyed immediately after removing from the oven. Eat it just like that, or serve with your choice of a side sauce! (pic courtesy of ajc)

Tip: You can add your choice of other veggies like broccoli or potatoes with or instead of spinach. The basic recipe remains the same. This also tastes good with a Feta or Goat cheese variation instead of Parmesan if you have a taste for the formers.

Similar Recipes:
Spinach and Ricotta Cutlets
Vegetable Timbales


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16 comments :

Anonymous said...

awesome! that's a very widely-accepted and known recipe, and yet I loved the way you described it! makes me wanna grab a spoonful right out of that ramekin!:)

-Julie

Anonymous said...

My granny used to make this very nice!! I used to relish eating it...and yes, you are so right about some things made for each other:)

nice pic! and loved the garlic flavor in it!

-cheryl

Anonymous said...

Mansi, this looks very easy and nice...can I make this in cake pan?

-Anju

Kribha said...

Oh...I've said this numerous times and probably even you have become tired of it. But donno what else to say....You continue to post all my favs one after the other without break. You tempt me so much that I'm scared that I'll feast on junk in the sadness that I'm unable to get yours right away.

Mansi said...

Julie, Cheryl - glad this recipe made you feel that way! we enjoyed it a lot too...

Anju - yes, you can use a cake pan, or any oven-prrof glass baking dish like a casserole dish. let me know how it goes when you make it:)

Kribha - I'm never gonna get tired of hearing nice words from you, so keep them coming! I'm trying to tempt you so u'll actually start making all these recipes:D hehee

Pravs said...

what a yummy combo of ingredients :) Looks yummy.

EC said...

Never made an attempt to try out such interesting things...thanks for sharing

Finla said...

Wow they just look gorgeous and delicious

Bindiya said...

Haven't seen a better souffle, Perfect!

Namratha said...

Simple and yummy Mansi, will surely try this one!

Anonymous said...

I recently saw a recipe for an onion bread pudding and thought it might be a good dish for Christmas Eve. Your recipe sounds so much better. Yummy! Great Blog, Gotta go and get back to reading more. Toodles, Maryanne

http://www.mazurek.blogs.com/maryannes_blog_powdering_/

Chef Jeena said...

Hey Mansi how great is this recipe! Cheese with a pinch of nutmeg and spinach too, yum! Lovely post nice pics . :-)

Dee said...

This sounds delicious.

As I type, I am baking your recipe for blueberry muffins.
Hopefully I did a good job and mine turns out half as good as yours:)

Mansi said...

kribha, Pravs, easy, HC and Namratha - thanks for your lovely comments:) makes me feel nice:)

Emmerma- thanks! I'd be happy if you would make this for your x'mas dinner:)

Dee - It's great that you tried oout those muffins! they are my favorites; I'm sure your's will turn up awesome!:D

Jigna Desai said...

Hi Mansi,

I just make souffle and it came out really nice... I used olive oil and carmalised onion. Once the onion was done i added garlic and spinach to cook for another 2-3 min. smell was so good... i just started eating :)
anyways i bake and the result was perfect. (I used muffin tray) with this i also roasted my veggies seprately to make my Feta Sauce sandwich.
Really really good. i can't believe that i make this by myself.
your pictures alwasy inspired me...
Thanks

Dr Shivani Sud Thakur said...

hi mansi lovely recipe can we use the cheddar cheese available in india like amul or britannia