Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Using a thick bottomed pan melt the butter slowly.

In a separate pan warm the milk, bay leaf, nutmeg and onion gently.

Add the flour to the butter and cook out for about 1 minute, stirring.

Add the soft goats cheese and stir until it combines.

Add the egg yolks.

Whip the egg whites in an electric mixer, a good tip when working with egg whites is to wipe the bowl out with a lemon half, and start the egg whites off slowly; this helps them to take in more air, then turn the speed to full until the whites are firm and you could upturn the bowl above your head without wearing egg on your face.

Add the milk to the cheese mixture and cook out, stirring until all the lumps have gone; season with the alpine pepper and then take the pan off the heat so that it cools down.

Butter and flour six moulds.

Fold in one spoonful of the whipped egg whites at a time, so that you don't lose the aeration, be gentle and the result will be great.

Spoon the mixture into the moulds and place in a deep tray; add boiling water ¾ way up the sides of the moulds.

Put them in the pre heated oven for about twenty minutes; remove and allow to cool.

When it is time to serve the soufflés, pour the cream over them and place them back in the oven until warm. I like to serve these soufflés with a really peppery, rocket (choose the older leaves rather than baby rocket which is too mild for this dish) and dress it with a balsamic reduction and some diced fresh chilli.

Serves 4

Mark McCluskey is the chef at The Beachhouse restaurant in Wollongong, NSW. For more of his recipes check out www.dining-downunder.com