Filet Mignon de Porc, Simple.

This is a filet mignon de porc that anyone can buy in Carrefour for seven euros. I cut into two parts, a small "tip" plus a larger part with fairly constant cross-section. I made a quick sauce with mapel syrup, mustard, smoked paprika, oregano and thyme (pretty much anything I found).

It went into the oven for 24 minutes at 180C-190C and then rested for about 4 minutes. The image below shows the cooked version. The end that you see looks more well-done than it actually was when we sliced them into 6 pieces.

If there is one thing to remember: 180-190C for 23-25 min. Like always, good luck.

AV made some lightly sauteed vegetables: broccoli, mange-tout, courgette and spring onion. All green and gorgeous.

Soufflé, second try.

We tried soufflés for the second time in one weekend. This time we made four of little soufflés, two green pea soufflés, and two pesto soufflé. We read a bit more about soufflés in different books to see if there were big discrepancies in the recipes. We found a nice reipe from a book by Nigella. In essence, it was very similar. Start with a roux made of butter, milk and flour, add the yolks, the corresponding ingredients and the beaten eggwhites.

In my opinion, the exact proportions don't matter that much, as far as the mixture is light and foamy. The little soufflés cooked for 17 minutes at 190C. We decided to reduce the cooking time a little bit to see if we could get a molten center.

The picture below is a close up of a pea soufflé.

So, that's the soufflé dinner, with Sekt, rucula salad and buffalo mozzarella. What else can you ask for as Sunday evening dinner?

Soufflé, First Attempt

Today we started our long journey into into the art of mastering Souffles. We bought ramequins (don't you love that word, ramekin in English) at Carrefour and cooked the most straightforward recipe we could find, the Goat Cheese Soufflé from the Gourmet Cookbook.

Cooking any meal is an act that falls somewhere in the art-science spectrum. Even though there is plenty of science involved, making a Souffle is mostly a craft of alchemy and hope. Let's get the basics first. You make a roux with butter and flour and then milk. You only need a 1/4 cup flour + cup of milk for 8 servings. You mix it with egg yolks and your favorite ingredients (in our case goat's cheese and thyme). You beat the egg whites, and then fold them into the mixture. Put everything into the buttered ramequins and pop into the oven for 20 minutes at 400F, which I figured is about 200C. And that's it.

Below is a picture of the soufflé about to go into the oven.

And this is how they look after 20 minutes.

Ingredients for serving 8.

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup milk
• 4 large eggs, (or 6-8 small eggs)
• 1 cup Goat cheese
• thyme, salt, pepper, etc.
• Luck

The verdict. Good first attempt. We found that even though the crust looks great in these pictures, was a bit too overcooked. Flavor was fine, but the goat cheese was not powerful enough so the soufflés were on the bland side.