Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Easy - for beginners
Serves: 8-ish
This is my go-to brunch protein. In texture it's someplace between a souffle and a cheesecake. I got it from Anna Thomas's classic, The Vegetarian Epicure.
Beat together the cheese and the sour cream, then blend in the honey, salt, and egg yolks. I suggest this be done in the blender, for this mixture should be completely smooth and cream cheese likes to lump a little. When it is well beaten, separately beat the egg whites until they are stiff and fold them into the other mixture. Pour it all into a buttered baking dish, preferably a rather shallow, round one, and bake at 350 degrees for ½ hour. Serve hot. With it I recommend a delicate Mornay sauce, made from Béchamel.
This is a peculiar dish: light, but very filling”delicate, but with a very definite character. It may be served as a separate course, with Mornay or another mild sauce, or it may be accompanied by some appropriate garden-fresh vegetable and slices of rich, dark bread to make a complete, light meal. Try it with young asparagus spears or a pile o™ sautéed leeks. On the other hand, with the addition of a little more honey, it becomes a hot dessert, which can be accompanied well by fruit and a custard sauce.
[Thomas™s recipe for Mornay sauce is really complicated and multi-step, so I™ve somewhat simplified the sauce I serve this dish with: I do a mushroom gravy by preparing some strong, hot vegetable stock in which I™ve boiled some peppercorns and a few dried wild mushrooms, then stirring the stock and some heavy cream into a butter-and-flour roux until it reaches a consistency I like.]