A friend of mine loves chocolate and so when she and her husband came for dinner last weekend, I knew that a dessert with chocolate should be on the menu. After considering a number of options, I decided to prepare the Mint Chocolate Mousse from Nigella's 'Forever Summer' book. In my desperate search for mint flavoured chocolate, I stumbled across New Tree chocolates from Belgium. These milk or dark blocks of chocolate are flavoured with lavender, blackcurrant, ginger, lemon, bitter orange, cinnamon, coffee, lime blossoms, cactus and guarana (but no mint). In particular, the blackcurrant chocolate caught my eye. The idea of a rich, berry flavoured chocolate mousse sounded like a truly exquisite dessert. Rather than overpowering the mousse with the blackcurrants, I combined this chocolate with normal dark cooking chocolate. The resultant berry flavour was subtle, but with a touch of decadence. I think even Nigella would have been impressed. Here is the recipe:
300g chocolate (mint, blackcurrant or whatever you desire)
2 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
6 eggs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
garnish (mint leaves, fresh blackcurrants, etc)
Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a bowl along with the butter. Heat in the microwave on medium until melted (approximately 3 minutes). Set aside and allow to cool. Separate the eggs and put the yolks and sugar into one bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until it resembles stiff snow (but not dry) and set aside. Beat the yolks and sugar together then pour into the chocolate. Fold through until thoroughly combined. Add a quarter of the egg whites and beat vigorously until incorporated. Then gently added the remaining egg whites in small amounts and fold them into the chocolate mixture. Pour into a glass bowl (or 6 individual dishes), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Garnish before serving. Serves 6 - and is extremely rich!
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