Prize Winning Salmon Soufflé and NoJoMo

My friend and fellow blogger, Stove Lady, reminded me it's NoJoMo -- November Journaling Month. To participate, you're supposed to write something, anything on your blog every day in the month of November. The idea is to get you in the habit of journaling consistently.

Great. What a thing to see on my Facebook wall before coffee.

I admit, I've been sporadic.  I had every intention to blog regularly, but events in the ol' private life have thrown me off kilter. Ironically, I cannot divulge the details until the end of NoJoMo, but that just builds anticipation, doesn't it? I'm such a tease.

So how should I start? Well, by golly, it's high time for a recipe, and not just any recipe.  With this, I won the Grand Prize in a Victoria Magazine cooking contest! So, ladies and gents, get your soufflé on.

Salmon Soufflé with Fresh Tomato Basil Coulis

Soufflé:   
3 tablespoons butter   
½ cup onion, chopped   
1 pound salmon   
1 ¼ cups skim milk   
2 ½ tablespoons cornstarch   
1 teaspoon salt   
¼ teaspoon pepper   
5 eggs, separated
2 teaspoons lemon juice   

Sauce:   
½ cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon butter   
2 cups seeded and chopped tomato   
½ lemon, juiced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup sour cream   
¼ cup fresh basil, fresh sliced 1/8" thick

Preheat oven to 350º. Butter soufflé dish, making sure to coat all sides.  Melt butter in pan over medium heat.  Add fish.  Cook until fish just turns opaque.  Remove fish, draining well, and set aside. Add onion to same pan.   Cook on medium heart until onion is translucent.  Mix milk and cornstarch.  Add to onion, with salt and pepper.  Heat gently until mixture boils.  Add a small amount of mixture to beaten egg yolks to warm.  Add a bit more mixture to warn further.  Add yolks to onion-milk mixture.  Cook gently until it coats the back of a spoon.  Let cool.  (Up to this point, soufflé can be made in advance and refrigerated.) Whip egg whites with lemon juice.  Fold in a little of the whites into the onion-milk mixture to lighten it.   Fold whites into onion-milk mixture.   Crumble salmon and gently fold in.  Gently pour into soufflé dish and bake for thirty minutes. 

Meanwhile, make sauce.  Cook onion in 1 teaspoon butter on medium low setting, until translucent.  Place onion and next four ingredients in blender or processor. Process until smooth. (Up to this point, sauce can be made in advance.) Return sauce to pot on lowest setting just until heated.  Do not let sauce boil.  Add basil.

When soufflé is done, split open gently, using two spoons back to back.  Pour sauce in center.  Serve immediately.