Making Carrot Souffle'

I can remember as a kid going to a cafeteria in Lake Charles, Louisiana called Piccadilly Cafeteria.  They had a kid's plate that, if you ate all of your food, you would be able to see pictures on the bottom of the plate.  If I remember correctly, it was a white plate, with something like a spaceship in one compartment, and two other pictures on the other ones - maybe it was called "The Dilly Plate."  The incentive was if you 'cleaned your plate,' you'd get to see the pictures on the bottom of the plate. The old stick and the carrot routine!

Speaking of carrots, one of the things I remember Piccadilly Cafeteria being famous for besides the different colored jello cut into squares and their egg custard with nutmeg sprinkled on top, was their carrot souffle. It was so rich and sweet and delicious, it was hard to imagine it had a vegetable in it - which I think was the point. Anyway, my Aunt gave us a cookbook from Dallas, called "Tuxedos to Tailgates" and it contained the Carrot Souffle recipe that tastes like the one from Piccadilly.

I had just harvested the last of our Atomic Red Carrots and Tricia whipped up a batch of carrot souffle the other night and captured the process for your viewing pleasure. Here's what you'll need to make the Carrot Souffle of Piccadilly fame and Tuxedos to Tailgate Cookbook:

• 1 lb carrots
• salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and wash and slice your carrots.  These are Atomic Red Carrots, but this dish could be made with any carrot.

Cutting the tops off the carrots

Cook the carrots in salted water until they are tender and drain off the water.

Cooking the sliced carrots

Put cooked carrots and butter in a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth.  Then add vanilla, eggs, sugar, flour, and baking powder and process again until all the ingredients are blended well.

Putting all the ingredients in the processor

It should look just like this after processing:

Mixed and Ready

Spoon it all into a 1 or 2 quart baking casserole dish.

Pouring into a casserole

Ready to go in the oven

Put into the oven for 45 minutes.  The souffle should be firmed up on top when it is done.  Here's a look at a forkful of carrot souffle.

Fork View: About to go into my mouth!

If my plate would have been a 'Dilly Plate,' I would have seen the space rocket on the bottom very quickly. Carrot souffle is the bees' knees.