Meatless Monday: Attempt 1, Part II: Goat Cheese & Fresh Herbs Soufflé

Along with those super delicious spinachballs that my two-year-old just devoured, I made an attempt at my very first soufflé.
My first exposure to soufflé was watching Sabrina (the classic movie with Audrey Hepburn, not the teenage witch).  She learned how to bake a soufflé when she went off to cooking school in Paris.  "A woman happily in love, she burns the soufflé. A woman unhappily in love, she forgets to turn on the oven."  Fortunately for me, after I did some research on soufflé techniques, my soufflé came out almost perfectly.
I'll be honest with you - I didn't use fresh herbs.  Or, at least, only one of the herbs that I used came fresh from the garden (I had no idea when I planted chives a few years ago that they would just keep coming back and never die!!) - the others I just used dried, and it still tasted fantastic!

Soufflé tips that I picked up from various sources on the web:
1. Room temperature egg whites work best for creating a perfect meringue.
2. Adding a dash of cream of tartar helps to achieve perfect peaks in your meringue.
3. Be careful not to over-whip your egg whites - just whip until it peaks softly without drooping.
4. When buttering the side of your soufflé dish, use upward strokes.
5. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese  in the soufflé dish, turning the dish around and allowing the Parmesan to lightly coat all surfaces - this helps the soufflé climb the dish and get the height that you're looking for.
6. Don't add all of the egg whites at once - fold in about 1/3 of them first, that will make it easier to fold in the rest of the egg whites without loosing the airiness of the meringues.
7. Stop folding in the egg whites just before you think it's all incorporated.  This will keep you from over mixing it and losing the possible height.
8. DON'T OPEN THE OVEN DOOR BEFORE YOUR TIMER GOES OFF!  No peeking.  The change in temperature will cause the soufflé to prematurely deflate.  Then it won't look so amazing when you serve it.
9. Have the rest of your dinner ready and waiting to serve, so the soufflé will look its best for presentation.  It will still taste fantastic when it's deflated, it just doesn't have the same wow factor.

So.  As I didn't change a thing from the recipe that I used (other than using dry herbs), I'm going to send you over to the recipe at FoodandWine.com.  Go. Make.  Eat!

Serve with spinachballs for a delicious meat-free meal!