Bacon and Leek Souffle'

We spent a long weekend visiting friends and attending the engagement party for the daughter of my college friend. What a great time we had. Our first 2 days were with Bryce and Jane. Lobster and Tornados, for dinners, could you ask for anything better? As always fabulous wines and great side day trips were organized. Since we moved to TN, instead of PA, I hope they will use some frequent flyer miles to visit us and see the wonderful things I am discovering here. Next we visited with Carole and Dick for the great engagement party for their daughter Erin and Wes. The food was way too good. I thought I tasted everything, but heard of things the next day that were gone, that I did not get to. Every waist band is tighter, what could I have missed? It was great to see all my friends again and what a beautiful crowd of younger people were in attendance. I can only hope my month was not hanging open all night. Our flight home was something else. We left on time from Philly and flew to Chicago. O’Hare preformed like an armature act. Instead of arriving home at 8:00PM, we got in at 10:30. Luckily I had my Kindle. Jim did not bring a book, so I had to keep patting his hand and saying calm down. I think I will get him a Kindle for Christmas. Anyway, Tuesday was a Meet’n Greet at the Country Club. We had been to one before. They have delicious hors d’orves so we did not make a dinner reservation. All of a sudden as it was ending, Jim announces we were having dinner. I brought most of mine home and we had it for lunch. So now it is dinner and I am back to cooking.
We had a wonderful Bacon and Leek Soufflé from Fine Cooking, J/J 2011. It serves 6, but Jim announced it is just air, so he ate it all. He really liked it and I have not made a soufflé in a long time, so if you are in the same boat, make this one. It is delicious.
Ingredients:
Butter Spray for the baking dish
5 slices bacon, thinly sliced crosswise
2 C thinly sliced leeks (light-green and white parts only, for about 2-3 med. leeks)
I t chopped fresh thyme ( I used 1/3 t of dried)
¼ t each of salt and pepper
½ C whole milk
5 oz cream cheese, cubed
½ C Asiago cheese, grated
5 large eggs, separated, plus 1 large white
½ t cream of tartar
Directions:
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8 baking dish.
2. In a 12” nonstick skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a large bowl. Add the leeks to the skillet, reduce the heat to medium low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened about 4 minutes. Add the leeks to the bacon with a slotted spoon and stir in the thyme, salt and pepper.
3. In a microwave warm the milk. Stir in the cream cheese and Asiago and whisk until melted and combined. Add the milk mixture to the leeks and bacon and stir to combine and cool slightly. Gently mix in the egg yolks; set aside. (This is different than the magazine, but much easier.)
4. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer on high speed to medium-stiff peaks. With a large spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the leek and bacon mixture. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and bake until puffed and golden-brown on top. The recipe says 22-24 minutes. My oven on convection took 10 minutes longer. What can you say about an over made by a refrigerator company that has a chicken nuggets setting.
I served it with a simple salad of greens, cucumber, and tomato with a dressing from Penzeys mixture. Jim served a Viansa Gionaccia 2009 form Sonoma County. It was great. Viansa is one of my favorite wines.