Friday, March 16, 2012

Ham and Emmenthal Fluffy Tart, a Trixified Cousin of the Souffle, for a (Sort of) French Friday with Dorie

I know this isn't the exact recipe for this week's French Fridays with Dorie dish - a classic cheese souffle - but it's a close cousin. It's not that I have anything against souffles, mind you; in fact, I am a huge fan. I've made them in the past, as I'm sure many of you have, and I agree with Dorie that their difficulty level is highly overstated.

That said, I have been following recipes to the letter lately as part of the Joy the Baker cook off that I recently participated in, and this has left me itching to experiment a bit. And so I decided to try a fluffy tart.

I made a custard as I normally would for a quiche or tart, only I separated all the yolks and whites (except for one), beat the egg whites and folded them into the custard. The resulting  texture is somewhere in between a quiche and a souffle -  puffy, cheesy, airy, and almost flan-like, anchored by a surprisingly light olive oil tart crust.

For the olive oil crust, I followed the proportions and method laid out at Chocolate and Zucchini , only I used whole wheat pastry flour. It's really the easiest tart crust you'll ever make.

Ham and Cheese Fluffy Tart 

5 eggs, separated, plus one egg
3/4 cup half and half
pinch of salt
pinch of white pepper
pinch of Cayenne pepper
1 cup chopped ham (I used Virginia ham)
1 1/2 cups grated Emmenthal cheese

In a bowl, whisk together the 5 egg yolks, whole egg, half and half, salt, white pepper and Cayenne. Set aside. In a stand mixer, whip the egg whites until peaks form. Fold into the egg yolk mixture in  thirds. Fold in the ham and cheese. Fill a tart crust 3/4 of the way full and bake in a 375 F oven until puffy and brown, about 30 minutes. 

This made extra, and so I poured excess filling into random other containers, not expecting much. I was happily surprised when this resulted in some very airy cheesy not-quite-souffle dishes:

These make a fabulous breakfast the day after - and because they never puff up like a souffle, they don't fall and get dense overnight. 

If you'd like to participate in French Fridays, pick up a copy of Around My French Table and get cooking. (Or you can do what I do and make it all up as you along!) And make sure to check out what the other Doristas did.

Happy French Friday!





30 comments:

  1. Gosh I love the sound of the texture. It looks gloriously light and beautiful too. Genius!

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  2. Stunning!! And I know I'm going to have to be trying that crust, it sounds amazing.

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  3. Everything tastes better in a crust. Looks good!

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  4. I am totally feeling this "trixified" version!

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  5. This looks absolutely incredible! I'd definitely like to snag a piece =)

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  6. "Fluffy Tart"... hmmm. You know I am writing a Savory Pie book and this inspires me. GREG

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  7. Oh, yeah...my family would have loved the addition of ham. So glad you trixified :)

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  8. This tart looks amazing! I'm totally bookmarking to try making it. :) I just got the Joy the Baker cookbook yesterday... she was here in Seattle doing a book signing which I totally planned on attending and the my 20 month old took a face dive onto the hard woods it was not pretty.... such is life. Look forward to seeing what your making.

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  9. Gorgeous, and sounds delicious!

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  10. Such a fluffy tart is our Trix :-)
    Love your riff on the souffle.

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  11. I should have known you would find a way to trixify this one! Clearly, this is an idea worth stealing! You continue to inspire!

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  12. I would've enjoyed my souffle more had I your laid back approach or made your delicious tart. Both look great!

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  13. Good work on the trixification (watch out auto correct!) of this week's FFWD recipe! I like your recipe and am particularly interested in trying the olive oil crust so thanks for sharing my dear and have a great weekend;-)

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  14. This is the perfect brunch dish. Yum!

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  15. Love the sounds of fluffy tart!

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  16. Now why didn't I think of that... an olive oil crust instead of butter... a very smart idea, isn't it? Sweet little dish with all that puffy goodness... like a fat little quiche.. bravo!

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  17. Trixie, I love it! Souffle has always intimidated me but I really should give it a try. Loving how you Trixified this and made a scrumptious treat. Looks amazing!

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  18. Truthfully, if I were Dorie, I would've already written in to complain....that your recipe here's much better than hers. And how dare you even attribute it to AMFT? LOL, girl, you have a way of turning a recipe on its head but if it's not always innovative, delicious and fab looking, you know I won't be coming back here again and again. You're the Lady Gaga of the culinary world!

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  19. I love all my cousins so am not the least concerned about your branching out. Good for you. This is all about trying new things, variations, blah, blah, blah. Nice Post. It looks yummy. Mary Hirsch

    http://www.lightsonbrightnobrakes.com/

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  20. I love anything with pie crust, and you have gotten creative here which is what amazing cooking is all about.

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  21. I love how your trixify Dorie's recipes. This sounds like something I'll try next time I'm in the mood for eggs (which is often). Thanks for the inspiration.

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  22. Absolutely beautiful tart...the crust looks amazing!

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  23. Now this is my kind of cooking: simple, beautiful and delicious!

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  24. This sounds delicious! Combination of ham and cheese and eggs - fabulous!

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  25. This is pretty much the sh!t. Just sayin.

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  26. Awesome! I love the Trixified Cousin of the Souffle.

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  27. Looks fabulous! I loved the souffle by itself but would definitely enjoy your tart version!

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  28. This ham and cheese fluffy tart look wonderful! Thanks for the post (and recipe).

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  29. I wish I had a spoon right about now. Drool.

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