A Versatile Sauce and Lobster Soufflé

A sauce can transform a dish drastically. To celebrate her 90^th birthday in style, my mother asked for a beef Wellington. I usually cook it for Christmas or New Year and insert a mushroom, foie gras and truffle mixture between the crust and the meat. To make it really special, I decided to add a Perigourdine sauce and to insert the mushrooms and shallots, which flavor the sauce in place of my usual mixture. What gives the sauce its name is a generous addition of black truffle pieces, an import from the Southwest of France, hence the regional attribution, to a Cognac, wine and cream emulsion. More than happy with the sauce and enamored with its voluptuous Cognac taste, reminiscent of a lobster bisque, I then decided to put it to another creative use: the basis for a lobster soufflé. Forget the black truffles, cut one-inch pieces of lobster and replace the milk by the richer Cognac-cream emulsion. The dish will serve 4 as a starter or 2 for lunch with a green salad on the side.

Lobster Soufflé

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

1 shallot peeled and minced

1 tablespoon butter (30g)

¼ cup (60 ml) Cognac

¼ cup (60 ml) white wine

¼ cup (60 ml) heavy cream

1 tablespoon (30g) white flour

For the soufflé:

Butter and Flour for the mold

6 eggs separated

The meat of a lobster

Material:

A small saucepan

A wooden spoon

A round soufflé dish 8 inches in diameter, 4 in height

Eggbeater

       Preheat the oven at 360F (180C)

       Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the minced shallot. After about 3 minutes and before the shallot colors, add the Cognac and wine and reduce until only ¼ cup of the liquid is left. Add the cream and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat. Gently add the flour and mix well until the sauce thickens. Remove from the gas.

       Butter and flour the soufflé mold.

       Beat the egg whites until stiff.

       Add the yolks to the sauce. Gently fold in the whites.

       Place the mixture in the soufflé dish and put it in the oven for 20 minutes.

       Serve immediately.