Twice-baked cheese soufflé with spinach and wholegrain mustard

You’ll need four dariole moulds for this recipe.

1 HOUR 30 MINUTES + COOLING | SERVES 4 AS A STARTER | A LITTLE EFFORT |

whole milk 250ml

onion ½ small, finely chopped

thyme 1 sprig

unsalted butter 40g

plain flour 40g

Double Gloucester cheese 100g, grated english mustard 1 tsp

eggs 3, separated

chives a handful, snipped SAUCE

double cream 200ml

Double Gloucester cheese 100g, grated wholegrain mustard

1/2 tsp

baby spinach 200g

1 Tip the milk, onion and thyme sprig into a pan, and bring to the boil. In a separate pan, melt the butter, then sprinkle in the flour and stir to make a roux. Strain the milk, discarding the onion and thyme, and slowly pour into the roux, whisking continuously until smooth.

2 Season with a pinch of salt, then add the cheese and continue to stir until it has completely melted and the sauce is silky smooth. Remove from the heat, stir in the mustard and cool for 30 minutes before whisking in the egg yolks.

3 Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks using an electric whisk. Add half of the whites to the cheese mixture, carefully folding them in until well combined. Repeat the process with the remaining egg whites.

4 Put four dariole moulds into a deep baking tray and spray each generously with non-stick baking spray. Boil the kettle. Divide the soufflé mixture between the moulds, leaving a gap of a few millimetres from the rim of the moulds.

5 Transfer the baking tray to the oven, then pour enough just-boiled water from the kettle into the tray to come halfway up the sides of the moulds. Bake for 30 minutes, then open the oven door and bake for another 35 minutes.

6 Remove the tray from the oven, take the moulds out of the tray and cool for 10 minutes. Turn the oven up to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.

7 Meanwhile, for the sauce, heat the cream in a small pan until reduced by half. Stir in the cheese and mustard until smooth. Briefly cook the spinach in a pan of boiling water until wilted, then arrange into four piles on a baking tray. Turn the soufflés out onto the spinach beds, then pour over the sauce and cook in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until bubbling and golden. Serve scattered with chives.

PER SERVING 675 kcals | fat 59.2G saturates 35.5G | carbs 12.3G | sugars 4.3G fibre 1.3G | protein 22.8G | salt 1.3G