Monday, 3 December 2012

French Inspiration: 'Mousse Chocolat-Thé'

(Chocolate and Tea Mousse)

Whilst pondering through my recipe books this morning (an almost daily activity) I came across this recipe for chocolate mousse in the french foodie magazine 'Saveurs'. I realised then that my only chocolate mousse experience came, rather depressingly, in the form of a plastic pot from Tesco. This needed to change. As a wannabe linguist, the recipe translation was somewhat interesting, but being a hopeful French and Italian uni student, I felt duty bound to ban myself from the internet and attempt the translation myself. After a little confusion over quantities I was well on my way (it seemed a little odd to be using almost a litre of cream for a three person serving... until I eventually understood that 1 french 'cl' meant 10 english 'ml'). I'm pleased to say they were all devoured pretty swiftly, so my translation must have worked!



Ingredients (serves 3):

100g dark chocolate
2 eggs, separated
12g butter
10g caster sugar
1 small espresso cup of white tea (the herbal type, not normal tea with milk) - I used slightly more tea               than their original recipe as I found that it gave an even lighter texture (an accidental discovery after a mistranslation!).
A very small pinch of salt


Method:


  • Bring cream to the boil, take off the heat, stir in the tea and leave to infuse for 10 mins (until needed - stir occasionally to stop a skin from forming).
  • Melt the chocolate over a bain marie, add butter once chocolate is melted and stir in to melt. Remove from heat and leave to cool to room temp.
  • Whisk egg whites to soft peaks then add yolks, sugar and salt and whisk for only a few seconds (just to combine).
  • Mix the cream into the cooled chocolate/tea mixture, then fold delicately into frothy egg mix.
  • Pour gently into ramekins/small cups and leave to set in the fridge for at least 2hrs.

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