Today, to coincide with National
Mousse Day (who dreamed that up?), we’ll have a celebration of a few of my 1970s
favourites – time-honoured classics that have stood the test of time and are
still high on the list of special requests on the Ballymaloe House menu and
famous Sweet Trolley.
How about a Leek Mousse? Leeks are at their best just now, I’ve been digging
the smaller ones from the vegetable garden, I can’t bear to waste a scrap, I
use the young leaves for soups or melt them in butter to add to a bowl of
fluffy mashed potato. Avoid the big specimens, they may look tempting but
believe me, they’ll be tough so go along to the Farmers’ Market and choose
small new season leeks instead. They’ll be tender and sweeter.
These little leek mousse make a gorgeous starter but best of all they can be
cooked earlier (dare I say, even the day before) and gently reheated in a
bain-marie.
I’m also sharing the secret of this Bretonne sauce, a deliciously buttery sauce
that transforms many simple foods into a feast – it’s a gem to have in your
repertoire and not least because it is literally made in minutes.
Add a few morsels of lobster, plump mussels or shrimp and hey presto, the dish
takes on a swanky cheffy appearance…a few wisps of chervil and wait for the Ooh’s
and Aah’s when you serve it to your guests.
This leek mousse is rich as you can see from the ingredient list, so serve
small portions for starters but increase the size for a lunchtime main course.
Serve a salad of fresh crunchy leaves and a few fresh herbs tossed with a
little dressing of extra virgin olive oil, a few drops of freshly squeezed
lemon juice, lots of freshly cracked pepper and a few flakes of sea salt.
A really good chocolate mousse is yet another recipe that stands the test of
time. We’ve got a few versions, but I think this is my favourite, irresistible
with just some Jersey pouring cream and guess what I’ve discovered that it
keeps for over a fortnight in your fridge, maybe longer. How brilliant is that?
Use really good chocolate, we like 54% cocoa solids and rich cream.
I also do lots of riffs on it, a little crunchy hazelnut praline sprinkled over
the top is sublime, a few flakes of gold leaf give a super luxurious look while
a spoonful of candied kumquat compote is a delicious foil to the richness of
the mousse and last but certainly not least, I love a spoonful of plump Pedro
Ximénez soaked raisins, spoon over a dollop of softly whip cream on top.
Make a batch before the festive season and you are sorted for any eventuality
and who doesn’t love chocolate mousse?
This orange mousse is deliciously tender and light as a feather. It looks super
impressive. We decorate it with diamond shaped slivers of chocolate and ruffs
of orange flavoured cream for extra deliciousness. Unless the oranges are
organic, give them a good wash and use a Microplane or very fine grater to
grate the zest. All of these recipes can be whipped up the day before for
ease of entertaining.
Happy National Mousse Day.
Rory O’Connell’s Leek Mousse with Mussels and Sauce Bretonne
Thank you to Rory for sharing this recipe with me.
In Rory’s words ‘This mousse is rich and delicious and should be served in small portions. The mussels can be replaced with shrimp or lobster. I have also served the mousse as a vegetable accompaniment with roast chicken and guinea fowl and firm textured fish like sole, monkfish, turbot and brill. The mousse can be prepared early in the day and cooked later.
Bretonne sauce is an excellent sauce to serve with the fish mentioned above.’
Serves 6-8
Mousse
20g butter
450g leeks, sliced and washed
3 eggs
300ml cream
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sauce
2 egg yolks
1 tsp Dijon mustard, preferably green mustard flavoured with tarragon
½ tsp white wine vinegar
110g butter
1 tbsp chopped herbs; chives, parsley, thyme, chervil, tarragon
36-48 fresh mussels
You will need 6-8 ceramic or metal moulds, approx. 100ml each
Preheat the oven to 170˚°C/Gas Mark 3.
Brush the moulds with melted butter and line the bottoms with a disc of non-stick baking paper.
Melt the butter in a small low-sided saucepan and allow to foam. Add the leeks, toss in the butter and season with salt and pepper. Cover with parchment paper and a tight-fitting lid. Cook on a very gentle heat until the leeks are just tender. Drain the leeks and press off all excess liquid. Reserve the excess liquid for later. Allow to cool for a few minutes and place in a blender and add the eggs and cream. Purée until smooth and taste to correct seasoning. Place the mousse mixture in the prepared moulds, filling the moulds to the top.
When ready to cook, place the mousses in a bain-marie. Half fill the bain-marie with boiling water and cover tightly with a sheet of parchment paper. Place in the preheated oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until the mousses are just set.
Remove from the oven and keep warm.
Place the mussels in a clean frying pan. Cover with a lid and place on a low heat. They will gradually start to pop open and release their own cooking juices. Remove the shells from the pan as soon as they open. Reserve the cooking liquid. When all the mussels are cooked, remove the beard and carefully remove from the shells and add to the mussel cooking liquid
Place the egg yolks in a Pyrex bowl with the mustard and vinegar. Melt the butter and bring to a boil. Slowly drizzle the boiling butter onto the eggs, whisking all the time. The sauce will gradually begin to thicken. Continue until all of the melted butter has been added. Add the chopped herbs. At this point I add a little of the reserved leek cooking juices to the sauce.
Add the cooked mussels and some of their cooking juice to the sauce. The sauce should be quite thin.
To serve, unmould the mousses on warm plates. Drizzle a little sauce and some mussels around and over each mousse. Garnish with a relevant herb, like fennel, dill or chervil.
Serve immediately.
JR Ryall’s Orange Mousse with Chocolate Wafers
JR Ryall, head pastry chef at Ballymaloe House and author of Ballymaloe Desserts kindly shared this delicious recipe.
In JR’s words ‘This mousse has retro appeal, and I love its theatrical appearance, particularly the contrast of the vivid orange segments and the dramatic pointy chocolate diamond wafers. The combination of orange and chocolate is nothing new. However, the combination of light and airy mousse with fresh orange, fragile chocolate wafers and orange scented cream is really rather good. This dessert brings a splash of colour to the dessert trolley during winter and spring when citrus fruit is at its best.’
Serves 8
For the orange mousse
finely grated zest and juice of 2 large oranges, plus extra if needed
4 large eggs, 2 separated
70g caster sugar
juice of 1 lemon
4 gelatine leaves
225ml softly whipped
cream
For the chocolate wafers
120g dark chocolate (62% cocoa solids)
for the orange-flavoured cream and assembly
3 large oranges
225ml whipped cream
pinch of caster sugar
Have a 1.2 litre serving bowl to hand.
To make the orange mousse.
Place the 2 egg yolks with the orange zest into the bowl of an electric mixer (keep the whites for later). Add the remaining 2 whole eggs and the caster sugar and whisk on high speed until the mixture quadruples in volume and becomes light and pale in colour, about 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, measure the volume of the combined orange and lemon juices: you need 300ml. If necessary, bring up the volume with the juice of another orange. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes. Warm one quarter of the juice in a small saucepan, add the soaked gelatine leaves and stir to dissolve. Blend the gelatine mixture back into the remaining juice and transfer to a mixing bowl. Set the bowl in an ice bath and stir to chill. As the mixture cools it will begin to thicken slightly – this is the gelatine beginning to set; at this point remove the bowl from the ice bath. Fold one quarter of the egg mousse into the gelatine mixture to lighten it, followed by the remaining three quarters, mixing thoroughly and ensuring no liquid juice layer remains in the bottom of the bowl.
Now fold in the softly whipped cream. Finally, whisk the reserved 2 egg whites to stiff peaks stiffly, making sure they do not turn grainy, and then gently fold into the mousse. Pour the mousse into the serving bowl and place in the fridge to set, about 4 hours.
To make the chocolate wafers.
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of hot water, then remove from the heat. Spread the melted chocolate on baking paper in the shape of a large square. Leave in a cool place until set, then cut into diamond shaped wafers.
To make the orange-flavoured cream.
Grate the zest from half of one of the oranges, then mix with the whipped cream in a bowl and add a pinch of caster sugar to taste.
To assemble.
Peel and segment the
three oranges. Arrange the orange segments in a circular pattern on top of the
set mousse. Pipe a border of the orange-flavoured cream around the segments and
position the chocolate wafers decoratively and dramatically around the edge of
the bowl.
Bitter Chocolate Pots with Raisins in Pedro Ximénez and Crème Fraîche
Serves 6
Chocolate Mousse
110g good quality dark chocolate (we use 54% Callebaut)
110ml cream
1-2 tbsp Jamaica rum
2 eggs, separated
100g plump raisins or sultanas
60ml of Pedro Ximénez sweet sherry
crème fraîche
First, make the chocolate pots.
Chop the chocolate finely. Bring the cream up to the boil, turn off the heat, add the chocolate to the cream and stir it around until the chocolate melts in the cream. Add in the alcohol, if using, and whisk in the egg yolks. Whisk the egg whites until just stiff, then stir in a quarter of the egg white, fold in the rest, gently, being careful not to knock all the air out. Divide between 6 pots or espresso cups.
Cover and chill and allow to set for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.
Meanwhile, warm the Pedro Ximénez. Pour over the raisins and allow to plump up and macerate.
To Serve
Put the little pot or espresso cup on a small plate or saucer. Spoon a generous teaspoon of boozy raisins on one side.
Place a blob of crème fraîche on the other side, add a teaspoon and serve.
Note
These little pots are very rich so extra crème fraîche may be welcome. This mousse will taste different depending on the chocolate, for a richer mousse use 62% chocolate or 34% milk chocolate for a sweeter mousse.