Cold Fruit Souffle

A delicious autumn souffle from the Village Kitchen

Can be made with blackberries, blackcurrants, cranberries, plums, raspberries of strawberries.

Serves 10, but it is easy to make a smaller quantity by scaling down ingredients to 1 or 2 eggs.

Ingredients:

900g / 2lb fruit, fresh or frozen

Water

About 50g / 2oz sugar

40g / 1 1/2 oz gelatine (3 sachets)

3 large egg whites

For decoration, chopped nuts and whipped cream for piping (optional)

The Souffle can be served in a 1.75 litre / 3 pint glass dish or in a specially prepared 1.2 litre / 2 pint straight sided dish. This measures 15cm / 6 ins across and 7.5cm / 3 ins deep.

Method:

To prepare a traditional Souffle dish with a paper collar -

1. Cut from a roll of greaseproof paper a single piece measuring 55cm / 22ins long and 38cm / 15 ins wide.

2. Now fold this lengthwise so that you have three thicknesses, 55cm / 22ins long and 13cm / 5ins wide.

3. Wind this strip around the outside of the dish and fix it as tightly as you can. Elastic bands are best to hold it in place. It needs to fit very well, especially at the rim edge.

To prepare the Souffle

1. Wash fruit and put it in a saucepan with barely enough water to cover. Simmer until soft. If using frozen fruit, take care to de-frost it and add very little water.

2. Push cooked fruit through a nylon sieve, scraping puree from underneath as you do it.

3. Measure puree and, if necessary, top up with water to 1.35 litres / 2 1/4 pints. Return puree to pan.

4. Add sugar to taste. Stir until all is dissolved. Pour into a large bowl.

5. Put 3 tablespoons of water into a cup and sprinkle in the gelatine. Place cup in a small pan of warm water. Heat gently. Stir until the gelatine has dissolved; about 2 or 3 minutes.

6. Now strain gelatine mixture into fruit puree, stir well and leave to set in a cool place, or refrigerator.

7. When fruit is set but still wobbly, take a fork and mix it all up again.

8. In a clean, grease-free bowl, which egg whites until stiff. Fold them in to fruit.

9. Pour into prepared dish. If you have used a souffle dish with a paper collar, the souffle will be about 3cm / 1 1/4 ins above top of dish. Put it carefully in the refrigerator to set, allowing 2 or 3 hours.

To serve, peel paper gently away using the blunt edge of a knife and decorate risen edge by gently pressing in chopped nuts. Top can be decorated with a border of chopped nuts or piped rosettes of whipped cream. Otherwise serve with a jug of pouring cream.

Ray Thompson