This Comte Cheese Souffle with Prosciutto is a deliciously light cheese souffle is not very hard to make but very light to eat. The right amount of cheese, ham and parsley for a great taste while the beaten egg whites elevate this breakfast or lunch dish to greater heights.
It may be a funny comparison, but a cheese souffle is like a chocolate mousse in savory form; and instead of a dessert, why not serve this up as breakfast. Cheese, ham, eggs = breakfast. You’ll fluffy up a relatively heavy combination of ingredients, by incorporating egg whites that are beaten to stiff peaks and the end result is light, while remaining flavorful.
Make a ham and cheese sauce, add beaten egg white to half of it and compare the two; for sure the souffle is lighter and most likely even tastier because of the airy texture.
For this cheese souffle I used Comte, which is a French Gruyere type-cheese, with alpine flavors, and genuine Prosciutto. My idea was that the Comte with its nutty, creamy, fruity, peppery and toasty flavor, would be a great combination with a salty prosciutto. The added parsley creates color and brightens the flavor, balances the flavors. It came out great, brown on the top and the outside, fluffy in the center and a great flavor. I also added just a little bit of Walnut Dijon Mustard for some extra flavor.
The only tricky part of the souffle is the baking time. Do not open the oven during baking, because you’ll risk that the souffle deflates. You need to check whether the souffle is done, especially when it is your first time and you’re not sure about your oven temperature. So do this quickly.
Another tip is to slide the dish in the lower part of your oven, not the upper part. It is easy to get a brown top, but harder to get the inside of the souffle done.
This is the modus operandi for my Comte Cheese Souffle with Prosciutto:
Butter small ramekins or a large one and then cover with crushed corn flakes or bread crumbs. Make a sauce from butter, flour, milk, cheese, ham, mustard and parsley. Separate eggs, beat egg whites stiff and add both yolks and egg white to cooled cheese sauce. Pour sauce in ramekins (large or small) and bake and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Comte Cheese Souffle with Prosciutto
Ingredients
- 1/2 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 cup corn flakes
- 1 ounce butter
- 1 ounce all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 4 ounces prosciutto sliced and cut
- 2 ounces Comte cheese grated
- 1/2 cup parsley finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- salt and pepper, if required
- 2 whole eggs
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425 degrees F and place a baking sheet in the middle of the oven.
- Place corn flakes in a plastic bag and crush until super fine.
- Grease 1 large bowl with straight sides or 2 ramekins with butter and cover inside (bottom and sides) with corn flakes.
- Melt butter in a saucepan (do not brown), add flour and whisk together, creating a roux.
- Cook the roux a minutes over low heat. Add milk and stir constantly. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and cook for a few minutes.
- Add ham, cheese, parsley and mustard to sauce and mix well. Add salt and pepper if needed and allow to cool. Stir every now and then.
- Separate the eggs.
- Mix the egg yolks into the cooled ham-cheese sauce. Whip the egg whites stiff and add them to the sauce as well.
- Poor mixture into bowl or divide over ramekins. Place on the baking sheet in the oven and lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. and bake for approx. 20 minutes.
- Do not open the door during baking. Serve immediately when ready.
Notes
- you can use bread crumbs instead of corn flakes
- you can use any type of mustard – Walnut Dijon Mustard is not a must
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