Garlic and Parmesan Spinach Souffle Wreath

This yummy, garlicky, creamy, cheesy spinach soufflé can be made ahead and frozen for convenience. Just thaw, warm and serve. You can also make it the day before if you choose and just warm it up before your guests arrive.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

4 - 16 ounce bags frozen spinach, thawed and drained (water squeezed out)

2 cups Parmesan cheese

2 1/2 cups bechamel sauce (recipe follows)

2 ½ cups milk

3 Tbs butter

3 Tbs flour

2 ½ tsp salt

¾ tsp ground nutmeg

2 ½ Tbs minced garlic

8 eggs

Italian breadcrumbs and olive oil for greasing and dusting pan

1 jar roasted red peppers for decoration

Bundt pan

Directions for Bechamel:

Bechamel is a basic necessity for creating a variety of different sauces. It is used as a base for so many creamy sauces for so many different dishes. For example: mac and cheese is just a béchamel with shredded cheese added. So once you have mastered it, you can do a lot with it. And it isn’t that complicated. Here, it gives this spinach soufflé that creamy, yumminess.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour with a whisk and whisk constantly until small bubbles form. Do not let it brown. Heat the milk in the microwave. Slowly add in the milk to the butter, flour mixture, stirring constantly as it thickens. Stir in 1 tsp salt and the nutmeg. Stir the mixture until the milk thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Directions for Soufflé:

Saute the minced garlic in another small saucepan in a small amount of butter, do not brown. Stir into your béchamel.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl. Toss the drained spinach with the Parmesan cheese, the whisked eggs and the remaining salt (1½ tsp). Grease the bundt pan with the olive oil and coat the bottom and sides of the bundt pan with the Italian bread crumbs by shaking the pan and moving it side to side. Put a thin layer of additional bread crumbs on the bottom of your pan, like ⅛ of an inch of breadcrumbs to aid your soufflé in not sticking to the pan when inverted. Stir the spinach mixture into the creamy béchamel. Spoon it all into the bundt pan. Place the bundt pan in another pan of water. Cover with foil and bake for 45-50 minutes.

Use a malleable, small, soft spatula to loosen the soufflé from the edges and middle of the pan. To invert, place your serving platter on top and turn the bundt pan over, 95 percent of the time, its will invert perfectly. This particular one did not. This was the first time this ever happened to me, however, this recipe with the spinach is very forgivable. I just scooped out the part that stuck and placed it on top of the soufflé shaping it into the shape I desired with my hands. Cut small rounds out of the jarred roasted red peppers and decorate the wreath. You can roast your own peppers, but it certainly saves time to use those from a jar.

Make a day before and warm on your platter in the microwave. Or make a week before and freeze.