Walnut and Goat Cheese Souffles from The Joy of Cooking

These walnut and goat cheese soufflés are from pg 139 In the Joy of Cooking. We serve these with a lightly dressed green salad. We chose an orange balsamic dressing.

Yield: 8 servings (in ramekins)
Ingredients
3/4 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped (almost to dust)
1/4 cup corn meal
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup milk
10 ounces fresh unripened goat cheese
4 large egg yolks
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
5 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Process

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2.  Combine walnuts and cornmeal
3.  Butter 8 six ounce ramekins and coat with the nut cornmeal mixture. If there is any left over nut mixture, scatter in the bottom of the ramekins.
4.  Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. 
5. In the sauce pan, whisk in the flour and cook stirring for one minute. 
6. Add the milk and, stirring briskly, bring to a boil.  It will be very thick. 
7. Scrape mixture out into a bowl and add the cheese. Mash it until it is melted. 
8. Beat in egg yolks, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. 
9. In another bowl, beat the egg whites and tartar until stiff but not dry. 
10. Stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter to loosen it up. The fold the rest of the whites into the batter. 
11. Pour mixture into the ramekins. Smooth the tops. 
12. Place them in a water bath, 1/2 to 3/4 up sides of ramekins.
13. Bake in oven until a skewer comes out clean (~30 minutes)
14. Let stand for 15 minutes in water bath. 
15. Invert and serve.

Haroset

I am a little late this year, but oh well, here's the yummiest part of passover. Well that's my opinion, from good ole WASPy me!
Haroset, or Charoset is a dish served during Passover. Charoset in Hebrew means clay, and the dish's color and texture symbolizes the mortar with which the Israelites bonded bricks when they were enslaved in Ancient Egypt.

There are many recipes for Charoset. A typical recipe would include nuts, apples, cinnamon, and sweet wine. Honey is used as a sweetener and binder: the mixture is not cooked. Variations for this recipe do exist that may include raisins or other ingredients native to the Middle East such as figs or dates. In Egypt, it is made only of dates, raisins, walnuts, cinnamon and sweet wine. In Greece and Turkey, it consists of apples, dates, chopped almonds and wine. In Iraq and Central Asia it sometimes consists of grape jelly. In Italy, it can include chestnuts. In Spanish and Portuguese communities of the New World, such as Surinam, it may include coconut.

I intended to put this recipe up a week in advance of Passover, but life got in the way of any blogging I was to do. I received this recipe from my friend Arona who I used to teach with in Connecticut. This recipe is tasty and healthy and loved by the entire family. I tend to use pecans in place of the traditional walnuts only because of personal preference.

Ingredients
1 apple - cored
1 cup nuts (walnuts or pecans) (whole or ground)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons honey
2 Tablespoons red wine

Process (there are 2 methods)

1. Combine whole ingredients in food processor and pulse until combined. OR
   
2. If using ground nuts - the alternative method would be to chop or grate apple coarsely and mix with rest of ingredients. Add wine and blend thoroughly.