Recipes

This recipe for Smoked Sussex Cherry Souffle comes from Due South in Brighton. They say "Cooking your own smoked food at home is easier than you may think. You can smoke food indoors or outdoors & the great thing about cooking with smoke is the experimentation with different flavours. With Sussex cherries at their finest right now, smoking these already fabulous fruits adds an exciting new dimension.

"You can use most things to smoke – tea, coffee, herbs, wood chippings all create unique flavours but a good starting point is rice - it has no taste of its own, smokes really well & you can flavour it with whatever takes your fancy!"

Basic Smoking Technique

You will need –

* 1 old pan
* Tinfoil
* 100g rice
* 2 star anise
* ½ tsp coriander seeds
* ½ tsp black peppercorns
* ½ tsp fennel seeds
* ½ tsp sea salt

Line the bottom of your pan with tinfoil and place all the ingredients on top. Cover with a layer of foil and pierce about 8 or 9 holes, repeat with another layer of foil and holes. In a well ventilated area – near a window or on the BBQ place the pan on a high heat until it starts to smoke.

At this point place whatever it is you want to smoke on top for the required smoking time and cover with a lid or another layer of foil. Take off the heat and sit for 2-3 minutes before removing from pan.

For the Soufflé

Serves 6

A super easy recipe for an impressive soufflé that can be prepared in the morning and cooked in the evening.

    1kg cherries (to make 300g smoked cherry compote)
    125g caster sugar
    2 ½ tsp corn flour
    5 egg whites
    Icing sugar to finish
    6 ovenproof ramekins

To make the cherry compote - pit the cherries and place in a heat proof dish or bowl and place in your smoking pan for about 3 minutes, remove from heat and leave to cool.

Butter the ramekins in advance and place in a fridge. Fill the buttered ramekins with sugar and twist when emptying to coat the insides with a good layer of sugar. Return to the fridge until ready to use.

Blend cherries to a puree & set aside. In a pan boil the puree & sugar until reduced by 1/2. Mix the corn flour with a splash of water and add to pan, cook over a medium heat for 7-9 minutes stirring continuously. Place in a container and chill until ready to use.

For the soufflé – whisk the egg whites and sugar to stiff peaks. Add 1/3 of the egg white mix to the cherry puree base to lighten then fold in the rest of egg white mixture and smooth with a knife. Pour into ramekins and tap down on a bench. Add rest of egg white mixture to the top and smooth with a knife. Store in fridge until ready to cook.

When ready place in a pre heated oven and cook at 190 degrees for 10/12 minutes until risen. Remove from oven, dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.