When the girls were younger and all living at home, we had family dinner hour. Every Sunday through Thursday at 6:30 p.m. we turned off the TV, ignored the phone and sat down to dinner together.

We all had busy lives, but when we sat at the table we were there 100 percent. Everyone had to check in and everyone was heard. Tables are the great equalizers. No matter who’s older, has more power or money, when you’re all sitting at the table, everyone’s on the same level.

Our meal was always homemade—never take out. At that point, though Steve owned restaurants, but I really believe that one of the most important things you can do for the people you love is to prepare a meal with your own hands. That’s not to say dinner was elaborate—there was no chateaubriand or tableside Caesar salad presentation. But there was always a protein, starch and either two vegetables or one and a salad.

One of the girls’ favorite proteins, and something I still crave to this day, is cheese soufflé. People are intimidated by soufflés—the name alone sounds impossibly French and fancy—but I’m always like, get a grip, do you see how easy this is? There were many nights when I didn’t have a dinner plan, but I had eggs, milk and cheese.

It’s little more than whipping egg whites, making a béchamel and adding egg yolks. And don’t get hung up on the béchamel part either—that’s just butter, flour and milk. The most complex part about it is the timing. Soufflés bake up beautifully, but they fall quickly. I’d have the table set and everything else ready to go so I could pull them out and put them on the table the minute the time went off.

Now that the girls are grown and having dinner at their own tables, I’ll still bake up a soufflé when it’s just Steve and I, sometimes swapping out the cheddar for a mix of goat cheese and Parmesan. He and I go in so many different directions all day long and it’s nice to sit at the table, tuck into a steamy soufflé and feel our souls with sharing, our minds with conversation and our bodies with food that comes together in minutes and tastes like it took all day.

Fannie Farmer’s Cheese Soufflé

• Courtesy of James Beard
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• ½ cup scalded milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Few grains cayenne
• ½ cup grated Cheddar cheese
• 3 eggs separated

Melt the butter, add the flour, and when well mixed gradually add the scalded milk. Then add the salt, cayenne and cheese.

Remove from the fire; add the egg yolks beaten until lemon colored. Cool the mixture, fold in the egg whites beaten stiff but not dry. Pour into a buttered 1 ½ quart mold, and bake 30 to 35 minutes at 375 degrees.