An oldie but a goodie

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

"Dense, dark and with the faintest backnote of coffee, the perfect chocolate mousse is thick yet open-textured, somewhere between the frothy nothingness of a sweet soufflé and the intensity of a chocolate truffle. It should be served in elegantly small amounts, being so rich that 4 or 5 tsps is enough, and unadorned except, perhaps, for a single candied violet." Nigel Slater

Well I haven't got any candied violets to decorate it, and I've probably made too much - more than four or five teaspoons each anyway, but on a sudden whim I decided to make chocolate mousse for dessert for dinner tonight. Our grandsons are coming to dinner with their mother and staying overnight, so I wanted to make a dessert. It's usually apple something but we don't have many and they are not exactly in season, so I thought of chocolate mousse, which just about everyone likes and it's quick and easy to boot. Well - a bit more about that in a moment.

I hope everyone likes it because my alternative topic was going to be the difficulty of pleasing children - and I shall probably return to that some other time.

The recipe I use for chocolate mousse is written down in a very old notebook that I started way back in my youth. The recipe is from my sister-in-law - a most unlikely source as, basically, she really doesn't like cooking I think. She is such a busy person she just doesn't have the time - or interest. This is good though and I have used it faithfully for many, many years.

But I only make it very occasionally. I just don't think about it - because it has sort of gone out of fashion - unlike all those lavender desserts I was talking about yesterday. it is not 'hot'. When I was looking for quotes and other things for this article, I thought that Donna Hay's massive tome on 'classics' would have a modern day version. But no - no chocolate mousse. She is the queen of modern, light, fast and beautiful looking food, so if she doesn't have a version then I think it really has disappeared for now. Delia, on the other hand champions it and does have a recipe, but then she is not 'modern'. You don't often see it on restaurant menus - unless it's a rather complicated version. The ever-reliable Guardian food blog, had an article on it - and if you want a really good summary of the different versions then this is the place to go. The author - Felicity Cloake also feels it should be revived:

"time has not been kind to this once proud dessert – people have added olive oil, basil, and even – dear God – avocado, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, all in the name of clever modern twists."

Nigel Slater also has a good summary of the things to do and not to do when making chocolate mousse.

Let me add one more. My recipe says to melt the chocolate, egg yolks and sugar over a pan of boiling water. I thought to do a short cut and do it in the microwave. Big mistake - some of the egg yolk cooked hard so I had to fish out little lumps of cooked egg yolk. I guess you could still use the microwave - it's very good at melting chocolate but don't add the egg yolks until the chocolate has melted. Felicity Cloake, incidentally, thought that Elizabeth David's recipe was the clear winner - and mine is very similar. Here is mine - well Jenny's (I don't know where she got it from - maybe Elizabeth David):

QUICK CHOCOLATE CREAM MOUSSE

110g chocolate (plain) - I use dark cooking chocolate

2 dessertspoons sugar

2 eggs

2 dessertspoons cream

Juice of half an orange or some orange liqueur

I made the double the quantity as there are five of us, but if you stick to Nigel Slater's 4 or 5 teaspoons this amount would have been enough. It made six generous portions.

Grate chocolate and put in a basic with egg yolks and sugar, over hot water, Beat until smooth. Cool slightly, then add cream and orange juice.

When quite cold fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Pour into glasses or ramekins and serve with biscuits - and maybe some more cream.