[WATCH] Gbejna soufflé with crispy Maltese sausage

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Gbejna soufflé with crispy Maltese sausage

Ingredients

• 25g soft butter to grease ramekins
• 25g Benna peppered ġbejna, grated to coat dish
• 10g butter
• 10g plain flour
• 125ml Benna milk
• Salt and pepper
• Pinch cayenne
• 3 medium yolks
• 5 medium egg whites
• 120g peppered ġbejna
• 60g Maltese sausage

Pickled fennel salad

• Watercress salad
• Orange
• Sherry vinegar
• Fennel (pickled)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Remove the sausage meat from its casing and cook in a pan until it becomes crispy.
3. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form.
4. Generously grease the inside of 4 standard ramekins with the softened butter. Put about 25g grated ġbejna into one dish, rotate it to coat the inside, then tip the excess into another ramekin. Repeat to coat them all.
5. To make the béchamel, melt the 20g butter in a pan.
6. Add the flour and cook for 2 mins, stirring with a whisk, to make a roux.
7. Still stirring, add the cold milk and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Let bubble for a minute or two, then pour the béchamel into a bowl.
8. Season lightly with salt, pepper and cayenne, then whisk in the egg yolk. 
9. Cover the bowl with cling film and let cool slightly.
10. Immediately mix one-third of the egg whites into the warm soufflé mixture with a whisk, then, using a large spoon, fold in the rest with one hand while showering in the grated ġbejna with the other sprinkle the crispy sausage too, Stop as soon as the mixture is amalgamated.
11. Spoon the mixture into the ramekins to come 5mm above the rim. Smooth the surface with a palette knife, then use a knife tip to ease the mixture away from the side of each ramekin to help it rise.
12. Stand the ramekins in a deep oven proof dish lined with a sheet of grease proof paper and pour in enough almost boiling water to come halfway up the sides. Bake the soufflés for 4 – 6 mins, until risen.
13. Put the cooked soufflés on individual plates and serve at once with pickled fennel salad.

This recipe first appeared on Gourmet Today TV, aired on TVM on 6 March, 2015. 

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