Pistachio and chocolate soufflé
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 2
- Dietary
- Vegetarian
James Martin’s individual chocolate and pistachio soufflés are simple to make and rise to the occasion quickly.
By James Martin
From Ready Steady Cook
Ingredients
- butter: butter, for greasing
- vanilla pod: 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
- double cream: 100ml/3½fl oz double cream
- milk: 50ml/1¾fl oz milk
- egg yolks: 1 free-range egg yolks
- caster sugar: 30g/1oz caster sugar
- cornflour: ½ tbsp cornflour
- milk chocolate: 15/½dz milk chocolate, melted
- cocoa powder: ½ tbsp cocoa powder
- egg whites: 2 free-range egg whites
- pistachios: 30g/1oz pistachios, finely chopped
- icing sugar: icing sugar, to dust
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
Grease two glass ramekins and set aside.
Heat the vanilla, cream and milk in a pan until boiling.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
Whisk the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks. Pour the custard back into the saucepan and return to a low heat. Gently whisk in the cornflour and continue to cook, whisking continuously, until the custard has thickened.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the melted chocolate and cocoa.
In a separate clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed. Add the sugar and whisk until glossy.
Carefully fold the egg whites into the custard.
Fold half of the chopped pistachios into the soufflé mixture. Spoon the mixture into the 2 ramekins.
Place each ramekin onto a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until well risen and golden-brown.
To serve, dust with icing sugar and sprinkle over the pistachios as quickly as possible before the soufflé deflates.
Recipe tips
In this soufflé recipe, steps 1-6 can be done in advance. If making the custard base ahead of time, cover it with cling film to prevent a skin from forming on the surface. Keep chilled, but remove from the fridge 30 minutes before whisking the egg whites to allow the custard to return to room temperature.
