Pumpkin soufflé pudding

It is not that I don’t eat eggs. I do if I can’t taste them too much. I just still find a dozen eggs a bit overwhelming. However the chooks went on laying while my mum was away a couple of months ago. I took home a dozen after visiting my dad and set to searching for recipes to use lots of eggs.

Any recipe using more than 3 eggs just seemed too eggy. I searched soufflé recipes. Isn’t that one of the food one makes with lots of eggs? The one I ended up making required only 3 eggs, lots of pumpkin, cheese and dry biscuit crumbs. It was quite unlike a traditional soufflé. It wasn’t light and fluffy nor did it need careful timing around its rise and fall. Just my sort of thing!

The first night I made it I served it with broccoli and it was nice, though quite rich. It lasted us a few nights. I liked it best with some leftover rice, spiced chickpea and a vegetable curry from a local Indian café. Sylvia would not eat the soufflé but she loved the chickpeas. They weren’t overly spicy but I was surprised as she has her food fairly plain these days but she does love chickpeas.

She also loved being given a bowl of plain rice to eat. It reminds me of being at Primary School and having fundraising days where we were given plain rice for lunch to help us empathise with the starving kids in Ethiopia (or maybe it was the refugees from Vietnam!) E has never heard of such a thing.

At my high school they had a more interesting version where everyone paid the same amount for fund raising. Kids names went into a lottery. A very small number had a sumptuous banquet, a small group had an average meal and most of the school had rice. A great way to demonstrate the realities of our world.

The reality of my home as a child was that Salada biscuits were a far more popular plain food than rice. My dad loves them. When I looked up the saltine crackers in the recipe, they seemed similar to Salada so I considered using these. However I love Vitawheat biscuits and they have new wholewheat crackers so I bought a packet with poppy seeds and sesame seeds.

This soufflé is anything but plain. It is perfect for people like me who don’t want to eat lots of eggs or to fear opening the oven and ruining the soufflé. I also enjoyed it as a sandwich spread. The recipe makes a lot but it lasted us a few days. I adapted the recipe from one for a carrot souffle and I am sure it could be adapted to other vegetables. This recipe is a keeper.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: High tea walnut, quince and maple syrup biccies
This time two years ago: NCR: 'Chinese' Soup

Pumpkin Souffle Pudding
Adapted from Simply Recipes
serves 8

• 750g pumpkin (weighed when trimmed and peeled)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup (100g) dry biscuit (saltine cracker) crumbs
• 125g grated vintage cheddar cheese
• 1 tbsp room temperature butter
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3 large eggs, lightly whisked with a fork

Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F. Butter a 2-quart baking dish and set aside. (I used my medium round baking dish.)

Cook pumpkin til soft – I did mine in the microwave. Puree with a handheld blender. Add milk and continue to puree till smooth. Add remaining ingredients and stir well (NB Elise whisked her eggs till frothy but I just used a fork). Check seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 40-60 minutes or until puffed up and golden.

On the stereo:
Scott Walker: The Collection