THIS week the dish I have chosen to share with you is souffl and is ideal as an appetiser when friends are invited for a special meal.

It is not something to make for your tea or supper when you are famished as it is quite time-consuming dish to make and it isn't at all filling.

It is, however, extremely light and tasty and will excite your tastebuds and get your gastric juices flowing.

If you look at the ingredients -- eggs, flour and butter -- you might well think you are making a cake.

Well, you are of sorts.

A souffl is very similar in principle to a light sponge cake which can be either of the sweet or savoury variety.

Chocolate souffl is a contemporary classic but my personal favourite is cheese souffl.

Having tried using various types of cheese from Lancashire, Cheddar and goat's cheese, to name but a few, I have found that none can compare with mature Stilton.

So do please try it, even if you aren't a Stilton fan.

If you have ever made a souffl before you will no doubt be aware that sometimes they can fail miserably.

They have been known to rise then deflate like a balloon or even not rise at all and a host of other things can go wrong.

Yes, it is tricky to get it right but I am confident you will be successful if you follow the recipe carefully with regard to weights, measurements, oven temperature and cooking times.

Do not let me put you off trying it.

After all, it's not rocket science.

Just remember the tortoise -- it only makes progress when it sticks its neck out.

The traditional way is to serve the souffl straight from the oven to the table in the ramekin.

Being something of a non-traditionalist I prefer to transfer it to a plate and garnish it with a lightly-dressed green salad accompanied by chopped walnuts and slices of cold pear poached in red wine and cinnamon.

The choice, of course, is yours.

The recipe below for cheese souffl is just one of a multitude you could make from the basic recipe.

You could replace the Stilton cheese with any one of the following -- crab, mackerel, lobster, prawn, spinach, chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, vanilla -- plus literally hundreds more that you could think of.

To make this cheese souffl -- or in fact any souffl -- you need ramekins to make and cook them in.

They are readily available from cookware shops and supermarkets. Stilton Cheese Souffl (pictured)

(SERVES SIX)

100g stilton cheese

6 egg whites

2egg yolks

250ml milk

50g butter

50g flour

salt and pepper

50g breadcrumbs

50g melted butter.

BRUSH the ramekins with melted butter and place in freezer for half an hour repeating this process three times then coat with bread crumbs.

Melt 50g butter in a saucepan, add the flour and mix with the butter allowing to cook for two minutes.

Gradually add the hot milk and allow to simmer for two minutes

Add the grated Stilton cheese, allowing to simmer for further two minutes.

Pour the mixture in to a large mixing bowl, add the beaten egg yolks and gently fold in to the mixture. Add the egg whites that you have already whisked to the texture of whipped cream and gently fold in to your souffl mixture

Pour the mixture in to six ramekin moulds.

Place the filled moulds in a deep oven proof dish and half fill the dish with water.

Bake the souffls in the oven for 20 minutes

Serve immediately.

PEARS POACHED IN RED WINE

PEARS poached in red wine are, I believe, an excellent accompaniment for a cheese souffl.

Try this simple-to-make "goody" I am sure you will agree.

Cut three pears into quarters

Toss the pears into half a pint of simmering red wine.

Add two or three cinnamon sticks and 100g caster sugar and allow to simmer until the pears are very soft but not "mushy"

Allow to cool and store in fridge until you need the pears

As a bonus, the remaining red wine from the pears is an excellent base for a red wine dressing.

Simply add a similar quantity of good olive oil.