I went to school with a Sue Flay....

Hi everyone....

This is the other half of Cook Local (I guess you can call me Local, and she's Cook ) here and, as you may know, I recently came into a whole bunch of free time by way of the early ending of a contract gig I was working at Microsoft.

So, since I'm at home, I figure I should be doing some cooking and, in doing so, expand some of my horizons.
Cue up the way too many blogs I read, most notably, What We're Eating and their particularly scrumptious looking Chipotle and Blue Cheese Souffle.

Patricia and I have been on a bit of a blue cheese kick lately, so this recipe seemed right up our alley (or down our gullet, as the case may be).

This recipe is not without its hurdles for me, most namely that I really don't work well with eggs.  And I'd never made a souffle before.  And I'm not much of a baker.

Making this dish, which calls for 4 eggs total, I used 6.  First one I crushed in my own hands trying to bread, the fourth or fifth I managed to tear the yolk wide open.  That isn't to say the others were 100% either.  I managed to rip two of the yolks and my egg whites were a little yolky, and I'm sure my yolky was a little white.

All in all, tho, it seemed to work out in the end, but before we go to the digital proof...

Lets look at the local-ness of the ingredients.

Butter - Organic Valley, like Horizon, does get some bad press for being such a large organic farm and being too corporate.  I half agree with it and generally try to buy some other brand... Mother's Choice I think.  But overall, I just keep getting tempted to make my own butter.  It seems pretty easy, really.  Here, go see for yourself:  http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article.php?id=113&title=Making+Butter. 

Milk - Sea Breeze Farm, Vashon Island.  Local and Raw.

Sharp Cheddar - Tillamook Cheese, Tillamook County Oregon.  We generally like much less mass produced cheese, but, sometimes cost comes into play.  At least Tilamook is right down the road, more or less.

Blue Cheese - Wisconsin.  No, it isn't local.  Which is sad, since Oregon has such a nice selection of blue cheeses, but 2/3rds of a cup is a pricey proposition, and it might be a waste of a good cheese.  But, on the other hand, for some recipes, the quality of ingredients make for a much better dish.

Pureed Chipotle in Adobo - Ok, this was really not local, it was from a can.  If we end up needing more of this, we'll learn how to make our own.  Peppers are pretty plentiful over the summer at the farmer's market.

Green Onions, Cilantro - Organic, yes.  Local, not a clue.

Parmigiana - I wonder if there is even a local source for parmigiana.

Eggs - Skagit River Ranch.  They sell us meat, they sell us eggs.  Luckily, during the winter, the eggs are plentiful.  Over the summer, you need to get there and line up before the market opens to get the eggs.

Flour, Cream of Tartar, Salt and Pepper - Not a clue.

Now, all that said, lets look at the photographic evidence of my souffle mastery.  Unfortunately, I didn't actually do photographs for the whole process.  I was a bit rushed and nervous.  Next time I won't be cooking it alone and I'll have some help... and a new camera.

Before we put it in the oven:

And lo, they are risen!

First, the 'in the oven' shot.  We were a bit worried they'd fall fast, so P grabbed a shot before even pulling it out.

But the fears were unfounded, they lasted to the stove-top:

Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close ups!

That second one was one of my favorites, along with the other back one which looked similarly craggy, but the front one looks..... well, it looks like a biscuit topped pot pie, funny enough.

You know, I wrote this entire post and never even stopped to think about talking about how they tasted.  They weren't 'Oh. My. God.' level, but, they were good.  The insides are... well, I'll be honest, this is the second souffle I've eaten in my life, and the first was a dessert, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  The insides are... well, if you would almost think it wasn't cooked, it isn't exactly soupy, it isn't solid.  It is almost like oatmeal, but a little thicker.

But, over all.  It was good.  We will make these again.