Nigella Eats Everything

To conclude February, my food bucket list of 2022 begins, commencing with these light, creamy crab soufflés, an easy yet outrageously decadent lunch for you to treat yourself! In case you missed it, I’ve chosen 10 delicious recipes to make this year – a hopefully easy-to-achieve number, especially as I’ve waited until 27th February to get started.

A couple of years ago, I re-watched the whole of The Great British Bake Off. Maybe I didn’t have enough to do with my life at the time, but if you’re in need of good evening TV, I can’t recommend it enough. My mental health was at its peak all thanks to Mel and Sue and some iced buns.

I was highly inspired and couldn’t stay out of the kitchen, rustling up whatever the contestants faced in the challenges. One week, they each made a big dish of chocolate soufflé which I immediately craved. (This is what will be my ultimate downfall, dear reader. My crippling impatience.) Even though I didn’t have a soufflé dish, I couldn’t wait and used a random Pyrex bowl. However, the dessert that came out of the oven was not a soufflé. It was chewy. It was crumbly. It was horrific. To this day, I still don’t know exactly what went wrong but I think it was the Pyrex bowl?

It took a while to restore my confidence in soufflés – say around four years? – when last spring, in the wilderness of a long lockdown, I had nothing to lose and only experience to gain. I whipped up a mixed berry meringue in vibrant hot pink, much like a lipstick I could only dream to possess, piled it into ramekins (not a bowl this time) and baked tall pearly berry soufflés. They were melt-in-the-mouth soft, sharp from the berries, and I was proud of myself.

Now, I’m in France, the country of soufflés. That said, my French food intake has been remarkably poor. We eat the chalet-staple tartiflette, crêpes, and hundreds of croque madames, but we also devour gyozas, lasagne, and slap-up English breakfasts on Sundays. A high proportion of the French food I eat is made by myself, an English woman who is improvising most of the time.

However, thanks to my new found confidence in soufflé-making, and to the ramekins in my cupboard, my kitchen was the stage for the French pièce de résistance that was about to be produced. Let’s turn the spotlight onto some light, creamy crab soufflés.

The Twice-Baked Crab Soufflé

Believe me when I say I know a soufflé, especially a twice-baked soufflé, can be daunting. You’re preaching to the choir. Nonetheless, when I read the twice-baked crab soufflé recipe from Australian Good Food Guide, I realised that all it was, at its core, was an embellished béchamel.

We all know béchamel – so comforting and velvety and, my favourite, cheesy. I make it a lot (see the lasagne mentioned above which, in fact, I’m making for dinner tonight). Now, take that silky sauce and add some of the best seasonings – cheese, lemon, chilli, herbs, mustard, and of course, crab. I used mixed crab from a can, and nothing could have been easier than just scraping it all out into the bowl.

Plop in your egg yolks for richer flavour, stir everything together and it’s so smooth and glossy, and perfectly ok to lick off a finger. Whisk your egg whites until they look like snowy mountains, then carefully fold them into the crab béchamel mixture. Gently spoon the filling into your ramekins (no Pyrex bowls please) and bake.

Just to add a bit more fun to the recipe, these crab soufflés are twice-baked. Once nicely risen and firm, slide them out of the oven and top with a dollop of herby, cheesy crème fraiche. Back into the oven they go, and 10 minutes later, they look like oozy golden top hats, each one standing to attention. The crème fraiche has melted and formed a herby crust on top and you need to eat them quickly before they deflate.

So, join me on my food bucket list adventure and bake some crab soufflés. Not only that but twice-baked sounds so fancy, doesn’t it? This recipe makes four soufflés, so heads up, they are delicious to eat cold as a snack later the same day. Which is always a win in my book. My crumbly first attempt is now a distant memory.