Double Baked Blue Cheese Soufflé with Wild Rocket, Walnut & Pear Salad by Christiano DeMartin.

Christiano DeMartin

Christiano DeMartin is the Executive Chef of White restaurant in the five-star Hilton Auckland at Princes Wharf. Since joining in 2008, Christiano has introduced White's food philosophy of 'homegrown' to showcase the best seasonal New Zealand produce.

He is responsible for the entire food operation of the restaurant, including purchasing, production, presentation and hands-on management of a staff of 28 chefs and stewards.

Hailing from Italy and training in Venice and London, Christiano's 20-year cooking career has seen him work creatively with prestigious resorts, hotels and restaurants around the world –the Republic of Maldives, Qatar, Bermuda, Australia and the United Kingdom. He also worked in the Stamford in New Zealand from 1998 – 2000.

Meeting his Kiwi wife eventually led Christiano back to New Zealand where he says 'life is less complicated'. After living in Australia and the Maldives they moved to Auckland to start a family and now have two children.

Inspiration for the baked blue cheese soufflé came from Christiano's desire to make a dish that was full of flavours but kept certain lightness that made it suitable for an entree or light lunch. White restaurant has run a few different variations on the recipe which are very popular with diners.

Christiano prefers Fonterra Foodservices products because they lead the market with great ingredients. Favourite products are the cheeses used in this dish.

New recipes are coming in often, so check-in regularly for more great Kiwi recipes!

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Double Baked Blue Cheese Soufflé with Wild Rocket, Walnut & Pear Salad

Ingredients:

300g Mainland Special Reserve Creamy Blue

300ml Anchor Cooking Cream

6 eggs

500ml Anchor Milk

60g Anchor Butter

60g flour

30g thyme

30g sage

30g sea salt

5g black peppercorns

40g Perfect Italiano Parmesan

120g wild rocket leaves

140ml olive oil

30ml white wine vinegar

30g walnuts

180g pear

20g honey

1 vanilla pod

Method:

Firstly, make a besciamella sauce by bringing the Anchor Milk to the boil and infusing it with thyme and sage.

Melt the Anchor Butter and add the flour, making a blonde roux. Add Anchor Milk and stir well.

Take off the heat and add Mainland Special Reserve Creamy Blue, egg yolk and check if additional seasoning is required.

Whip egg whites to a soft peak and fold in. place the mix in dariole moulds and bake in a bain-marie at 170C for 25 minutes.

Allow to cool before removing from the dariole mould, brush with Anchor Cooking Cream and dust with Perfect Italiano Parmesan before serving.

To make the dressing, warm the oil and scrape the vanilla pod in to infuse. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before adding vinegar, honey, seasoning and emulsify.

Toss the rocket leaves, pear and walnuts with the dressing.

Produces: 10 servings.