Ham and Cheese Soufflé Recipe – Easy & Elegant

Ham and Cheese Soufflé

Few dishes are as elegant, or as surprisingly easy, as a soufflé. This ham and cheese soufflé recipe combines fluffy eggs, savory ham, and melted Cheddar or Swiss cheese in a beautifully risen dish that’s equally at home at breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner. I adapted it from a recipe in Craig Claiborne’s The New York Times Cookbook, the first cookbook I ever owned and still one of the best.

Serves 4

4 Tbs butter
4 Tbs flour
1-1/4 cup milk or half-and-half
1 cup of shredded Cheddar or Swiss cheese
3/4 cup cooked ham
4 eggs, separated
salt, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper or hot sauce to taste
Hollandaise sauce (optional), recipe follows

How to Make Ham and Cheese Soufflé

1. Preheat oven to 375 deg. F.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in flour, and blend with a wire whisk. Meanwhile, bring the milk to a boil and add all at once to the butter-flour mixture, stirring with the whisk until thickened and smooth.  Stir in cheese and ham.
3. When the cheese has melted, add a little of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, mix, and return slowly to the saucepan, stirring constantly. Let cool a little. Season with salt, paprika, and cayenne or hot sauce.
4. Beat the egg whites until they stand in peaks. Do not over beat. Fold the whites gently into the cheese mixture with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, being careful not to overblend.
5. Pour into a 2 quart soufflé dish, lightly greased with cooking spray.  Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes.  Serve with Hollandaise sauce, if desired.

We enjoyed this with cherry mimosas made with equal parts  tart cherry juice and Korbel California Champagne (no need for anything more expensive), and garnished with Amarena Fabbri dark cherries. 

Easy Blender Hollandaise Sauce

You can agonize over making Hollandaise the traditional way, or make it in a blender and have it turn out perfect every time. This is also from The New York Times Cookbook, which states, “This recipe for Hollandaise sauce was first conceived by Ann Seranne, one of the nation’s foremost food consultants.”

About 3/4 cup

Heat one-half cup butter to bubbling, but do not brown. Into an electric blender put three egg yolks,* two tablespoons lemon juice, one quarter teaspoon salt and a pinch of cayenne. Turn motor on low speed and add hot butter gradually. Blend about fifteen seconds, or until sauce is thickened and smooth.

*You can add the whites to the soufflé (that’s how I got that big rise), or reserve for another use.

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