If you are looking for something special and sweet to make your mom for Mother's Day, have I got a dish for you. After taking a few months away from Food52's weekly recipe contests, I decided to hop back in this week and crafted this dish to enter into their contest for "your best mangoes". To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of mangoes, I mean I love their flavor but find that carving around the monster pit in their center to be a bit of a pain. Plus, it seems that there is so much waste once the fruit has been peeled and the pit removed. Anyway, for the two that I carved up for this dish I was very patient, extracting all of the goodness from them I could and I have to say that in the end my efforts paid off in a BIG way.
An ethereally light soufflé is a dessert that screams special occasion, but is really so simple to make that you shouldn't feel you need to wait for Mother's day to crank some out. The mystique surrounding them is legendary, and many refuse to make them for fear that one wrong move will result in a fallen mass burning on the floor of your oven. Fear not, soufflés are much more resilient than people give them credit for and don't require a whole lot of special attention (like tip-toeing around the stove or speaking in whispers while it bakes) in order to guarantee success.
As long as you've properly whipped your egg whites, and gently folded them into your soufflé base, they WILL rise beautifully in the oven and won't deflate until they have cooled considerably after cooking. That means you have many minutes, not seconds after they leave the oven to get them on a plate, dust them with some confectioner's sugar and present them to your cheering audience at the table.
So….show your mom how much you love her this Sunday and whip her up this special but easy treat, and give her a big hug from all of us here at Oui, Chef!
Cheers – Steve
Ingredients
for the crème anglaise:
- 1 egg
- 1/8 cup sugar
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- finely grated zest of 1 lime, about 1/2 teaspoon (or more to taste)
for the soufflés:
- 3/4 pound ripe mango flesh, roughly chopped
- 5 eggs, separated
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons melted for the ramekins
- 1 tablespoon superfine sugar, plus some for suting the ramekins
- 2 tablespoons rum
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk (any fat percentage will work)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
Instructions
for the crème anglaise:
- Prepare an ice bath and place a small bowl inside of it. Set aside.
- Put the egg, sugar and pinch of salt in a medium sized bowl and whisk until pale and thickened, about 3 minutes.
- Bring the coconut milk and cream just to a boil then pull it from the heat and slowly drizzle it into the egg mixture, whisking all the while to temper. When fully incorporated, return it to the pan used to heat the cream, place it over a low-medium heat and stir constantly until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 4-5 minutes. Pass the crème through a fine meshed strainer (to catch any egg that might have started to coagulate) into the bowl set inside the ice bath. Stir frequently until cooled to room temperature. Add lime zest to taste and reserve.
for the soufflés:
- Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the mango chunks, the 1 tablespoon of superfine sugar and the rum. Cook, stirring frequently until well softened and syrupy, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer the contents of the pan to a blender and process until very smooth, pour into a large bowl and reserve.
- melt the other 2 tablespoons of butter and brush it inside of six - 3" diameter ramekins. Dust the inside of each with superfine sugar, dumping out any excess. Place the ramekins in the fridge to chill while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
- Heat the oven to 375℉ and place a sheet tray on a low rack to heat.
- Whisk together the 5 egg yolks, flour, and 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar. Whisk until the yolks have paled and the mix has thickened slightly. Set aside.
- Place the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring it just to a simmer. Whisk it into the egg-flour mixture, then dump it back into the pan. Put it back over medium heat and bring the mix to a boil, stirring constantly, then lower the heat to a simmer and continue to whisk until the mixture achieves a pudding-like consistency, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour it into the bowl that holds the mango purée. Mix well and reserve. This is your soufflé base.
- Place the egg whites in a clean bowl with a pinch of sugar. beat with an electric hand-mixer on medium-high speed slowly adding the rest of the granulated sugar until the egg whites are bright white, glossy and hold soft peaks.
- Spoon about 1/4 of the whipped whites into the soufflé base and whisk it in to lighten the mix. Gently add the remaining whites, and using a rubber spatula, softly fold them into the mix taking care not to deflate them.
- Spoon the mix into the ramekins, leveling the top of each with a small offset spatula. Run your thumb inside the lip of each ramekin (this will help it rise evenly when baking), and place them on the heated sheet tray in the oven. bake for 13-16 minutes (depending on your oven) until the soufflés have risen above the rim of the ramekins and are a light, golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with each with a little confectioner's sugar. To serve, cut a whole in the top of each soufflé and pour in a few tablespoons of the coconut-lime crème anglaise.