Simple, Delicious Chocolate Mousse

Have you ever eaten something that was so simple to make and yet so extremely godly?

NO? The only things that are godly are sooooo difficult to make...

Well then you really need to try out this amazingly simple chocolate mousse. You should be warned... it is extremely unhealthy. Although I was told by my German friend who gave me the recipe that "it's all good fat!" Whether you believe this or not the mousse is heavenly.

I only make this recipe when I can get ultra fresh eggs because the list of ingredients includes RAW EGGS. My "ultra fresh eggs" come from my friend who keeps hens as pets. She picks up an egg box, walks out to the hen house, fills the box with eggs and then drives to work. I then get a phone call, or a text, or a Whatsapp message to come and pick up the eggs. The eggs are divine.

Last week I received such a message and went to pick up my eggs. Immediately when I got home I put together my mousse so it would set in time for dinner.

This recipe makes 8 servings (servings size - VERY SMALL - as seen in the above photo). I usually make half the recipe because I don't like to keep any in the fridge owing to the raw eggs.

Ingredients:

200g	Dark chocolate (otherwise known as semi-sweet)
4	Eggs
1/2 l	Whipping cream

Method:

Melt the chocolate. I like to do this in the microwave but you have to be very careful that you don't burn the chocolate. You also have to be careful that you don't make it too hot because if the chocolate is hot it will cook the eggs and you will not have chocolate mousse for dinner tonight!

I leave the microwave on high and put the chocolate in for 30 seconds. Then I take it out and look to see how far it is melted. If more than half of it is melted, and the bowl is hot, then I stir the chocolate and let it sit. If not, I put it back in the microwave and keep heating it until enough is melted. By the time I'm done with the eggs the chocolate has completely melted and it's not very hot. If your microwave has hot spots I would recommend using a double boiler (Fill a pan 1/4 with water and suspend another bowl with the chocolate in it over it. Let the water simmer and stir the chocolate until it is melted. Allow to cool).

Oh and one other thing, make sure you get absolutely no water/moisture into your chocolate. If you do it will seize and again... there will be no chocolate mousse for you tonight!

Melted Chocolate

Next beat the eggs until they are fluffy.

Note there are only two eggs in the photo

Add the melted chocolate to the beaten eggs and mix until well combined.

Add the whipping cream and whip till the cream gets thick. This is the only step that is a bit tricky and how tricky it is depends on what cream you are using and in which country you live in. In the USA I've beaten heavy whipping cream for ages and nothing bad ever happens. If you do this in Germany with regular "schlagsahne" it will curdle i.e. turn into butter, so one has to be really careful. I rather under beat it than over beat it. If you use Kothmale fresh cream it will also curdle. 

Another trick to beating your cream quickly is to make sure it is cold. It's not a problem if you are using fresh cream because it would have been stored in the fridge, but if you use a long life variety make sure you chill it first. It's a real time saver. Since I never know that I'm going to make mousse in advance I just stick a pack, or two, in the freezer before I begin and by the time I get to using it, it is decently chilled. 

At the end the mixture looks like this:

You can then be lazy and put this directly in the fridge to set or you can pipe it into individual bowls as in the photo all the way at the top. Then chill the mousse for 2 - 3 hours. You can serve it how ever you like but mine like it with a bit of fruit a dollop of fresh whipped cream and a few pieces of grated chocolate.

Risotto and my kids!

With a pot of simmering risotto on the cooker I'm reminded that neither of my children actually like risotto. It's really such a shame, risotto is so expensive, so good when it is fresh and takes so long to make. Plus my husband and I really like mushroom risotto.

I once made asparagus risotto with the hope that it might be the mushrooms that they detest and not the risotto itself but alas I was wrong. I was in one of those cooking moods and I proudly told everyone they would be getting a fancy dinner. Dinner was eaten on the balcony on an evening of rare sunshine and warmth.

At least the kids liked the setting and enjoyed the desert, which was a chocolate mousse made per a recipe I got from my German friend Sylvia in San Francisco. I don't often make the mousse because it requires raw eggs and I'm never too sure about eating raw eggs. German's don't seem to have a problem with it but Asian's do. My husband who is of Chinese origin and I, of mainly Sri Lankan origin, worry about salmonella poisoning when we use raw eggs. Currently we have a solution to this problem. An old colleague of mine keeps hens and when the sun is out and they are laying (sometimes more than one egg a day) I get a message in my in box to come and pick up a box of fresh eggs laid on that very day. These are the only eggs that my oldest will eat without a fight and we all notice the difference to the store bought ones. I guess they are kind of like what we call "gam biththara" in Sri Lanka.

And the time pressure is on ... the risotto is simmering and I have to leave in 15 minutes to go to the store and then pick up my little one from her viola lesson. Can you half cook risotto and then start it over again once it has cooled, or will that kill the consistency of the rice? If mine doesn't hurry up and cook I'm going to find out the answer to this question at dinner time tonight!