Recipe: Theo Randall's twice-baked squash and fontina soufflé

Taken from The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall (Hardie Grant/Quadrille Publishing, £26)

Known in Italy as sformato di zucca, this dish was one of the first I mastered more than 30 years ago, when I was an apprentice at Chez Max in Surbiton, just outside London, where the chef-owner Max Magarian became a huge influence on my approach to cooking. I must have made thousands of these delicious soufflés (the only difference in this one is the cheese choice) and I can still remember how excited I was when Max told me I had made them perfectly.

If you’re lucky to get hold of a black winter truffle, it will bring out the best in the soufflé.

You will need 10 moulds and 10 gratin dishes to make this (just reduce the quantities if making fewer).

Makes 10

• 500g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2cm cubes
• Olive oil, for roasting
• 300g fresh spinach
• 90g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
• 90g plain flour, plus extra for flouring
• 1 litre whole milk, hot
• 300g fontina, grated
• 10 organic egg yolks
• 12 organic egg whites
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To finish

• 200g fontina, grated
• 100g Parmesan, finely grated
• 500ml double cream
• Shavings of black truffle (optional), to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan. Butter and flour 10 x 180ml metal or ceramic moulds.

Place the squash in a roasting tin, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Cover the tin with foil and bake for 40 minutes, or until soft. Remove the foil and continue baking for a further 15 minutes, so the squash dries out. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then put through a mouli (or use a potato masher) until you have a fine purée. Set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Boil the spinach for two minutes, until the stalks are tender. Drain in a colander and push out any residual liquid with the back of a spoon. When the spinach has cooled, squeeze it with your hands until just damp. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the flour and cook for two minutes, then add the hot milk. Stir with a whisk until there are no lumps and you have a smooth white sauce. Add the squash purée, along with the fontina and season with salt and pepper. Take off the heat and stir in the egg yolks.

Preheat the oven again to 180°C/160°C fan.

Transfer the mixture to a clean, large bowl. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the butternut squash mixture. Pour the mixture equally into the prepared moulds, filling all the way to the tops.

Place the moulds into a roasting tin, then pour boiling water into the tin so that it comes half way up the sides of the moulds.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, until the soufflé rises and goes a light golden colour. Remove the tin from the oven (but leave the oven on), then remove the moulds from the tin and leave to cool.

To finish, grease 10 small gratin dishes. Divide the cooked spinach between each dish in an even layer. Remove the soufflés from the moulds and place one in each dish on top of the spinach. Sprinkle over the grated fontina and Parmesan then gently pour some cream over each soufflé. Season each dish with salt and pepper and bake them all for 10 minutes, until puffed up and golden brown. Finish with shavings of fresh black truffle.

Photography by Lizzie Mayson