DAILY DINNERS

Coarsely grate the courgettes, salt them for 30 mins & tightly squeezed

Heat 30g of the butter in a sauté pan and sauté the prepared courgettes over a medium heat for 7 - 8 mins, tossing often and spreading the mass out again with a wooden spoon - until well dried & lightly coloured.

To prepare the thick white sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook, stirring over a low heat for 2 to 5 mins. Whisk in the milk, raise the heat and whisk until the sauce comes to the boil. Remove the sauce from the heat as soon as it is stiff and allow it to cool for a couple of mins before adding the egg yolks, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add salt & pepper to taste and stir in the courgettes.

Beat the egg whites until they stand in peaks, incorporate about one third into the mixture, turning or folding gently with a spatula, to render it more supple, then carefully fold in the remaining beaten whites. (If you have beaten the egg whites in a large bowl, you may find it easier to add the béchamel mixture to the whites: gently pour the mixture round the sides of the bowl and fold it into the whites with your hands.)

Pour into a generously buttered 1 litre savarin mould (filling it no more than  ⅔  to ¾  full), smooth the surface with the back of a spoon and tap the mould lightly against the table top to settle the contents.

Stand the mould in a bain-marie (placing the mould in a larger pan and installing it at the entry to the oven before pouring enough hot but not boiling water to come ⅔  of the way up the sides of the mould) and bake at 180C/ Fan 160C/ Gas 4, for 20 mins, or until the surface of the soufflé is firm and springy to the touch. Remove the mould from the bain-marie and leave to cool for 10 mins, then unmould the soufflé on to a large, round, shallow baking dish (e.g. a porcelain quiche mould) Turn the oven to 230C/ Fan 210C/ Gas 8.

Whisk together the puréed tomato and the cream, season to taste, and pour the sauce slowly and evenly over the unmoulded soufflé, masking it entirely (but permitting only as much as is necessary to coat the inner sides of the soufflé to run down into the well) Sprinkle the cheese over the surface and return the soufflé to the oven for 20 minutes or until the surface is richly coloured and the sauce bubbling. Serve on heated plates, spooning the sauce to the side of the soufflé, so as not to mask the gratin.