As I mentioned recently, "I have a relatively small number of cookbooks and treasure all of them." Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest is part of my collection and it shows unmistakable signs of repeated use. One recipe from the book that I have been making for a number of years and that is a favorite with my husband and anybody who's ever tasted it is the fresh strawberry mousse.
The word mousse, imported into Italian from the French language, refers to a dessert usually containing cream or eggs. The mousse under consideration here contains no eggs. It may be made with whipped cream (panna montata), but it can also be made with yogurt, like I do, and the result is a delicious fruity, fresh-tasting, and light dessert. My version of the recipe departs in several details from the original to answer my preference for lightly-sweetened desserts and my sensitivity to the flavor of corn starch (amido di mais), which make me decrease the quantities of both relevant ingredients.
I am delighted that Mollie Katzen has put a lot of her recipes online. The one for fresh strawberry mousse is shown in a way that reproduces the original page where it appeared. When I started experimenting in the kitchen, the graphic design of the cookbook's pages made the recipes somewhat more approachable and gave me more confidence that I could follow them to completion and also adjust them as I wished: it was like adding my handwriting to that of the author.
Without further ado, here is my list of ingredients:
- 2 baskets of organic strawberries [see the Note below]
- 1/4 cup vanilla (superfine) sugar (zucchero), which I make by keeping immersed into the sugar in tall jars whole vanilla beans and/or split vanilla beans previously used to make ice cream, like this one, or this one)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (succo di limone)
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (from an organic lemon) grated with the Microplane zester
- 1 cup (8 oz.) firm non-fat yogurt [note the underlined adjective]
Note about strawberries: there are some foods I always buy organic and strawberries are one of those (this paragraph on strawberries and pesticide residues explains why).I usually buy strawberries at the farmers' market by the basket (the commonly used green plastic baskets). I never bring the baskets home: I empty them in a bag and return them to the farmer for reuse. I weighed the strawberry once, but forgot to write down the result: I seem to remember it was 22 oz. or so.
To prepare the mousse, I follow the procedure as described in the original recipe. The only difference is that when I first cook the strawberries, I leave the pot uncovered (for no special reason: this is how I did it the first time and I have continued doing) and stop the cooking as the strawberries start to soften and juice, so I can't say they look like soup.
The day I decided to take a couple of photos for a planned post, I looked at the pool of white yogurt in the middle of a sea of strawberry red and decided to play with it using a chopstick before folding it in properly. Mindful of my partiality for marbling paper, I swirled the chopstick and achieved a sort of combed marbled pattern.
After taking a few photographs, I folded the yogurt into the puréed strawberries. I usually serve the mousse as is, but for the photo op above, I decided to add a bit of chocolate shavings, to create some color contrast.
Try the original recipe, or my variation, or create your own, but please, do let this mousse tempt you. It is a great way to celebrate strawberry season, which in California, where I live, is blessedly long.
This, as you may have guessed, is my contribution to edition #236 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and hosted this week by yours truly.
This post contains the roundup of the event.
Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:
mousse di fragole fresche con yogurt
or launch the mousse di fragole fresche con yogurt audio file [mp3].
Simona this is wonderful. I love eating yoghurt with strawberries and I have just posted a spoon sweet recipe I make for your event.
Posted by: Ivy | June 04, 2010 at 02:00 AM
With local strawberries just ripening up in the vine this is a very timely recipe Simona.
Posted by: bellini valli | June 04, 2010 at 05:46 AM
Now, this looks like a real treat.
Paz
Posted by: Paz | June 05, 2010 at 07:24 PM
Thanks, Ivy!
Indeed, Bellini Valli, the season invites us to make use of its fruits and strawberries are so tempting.
Thanks, Paz.
Posted by: Simona Carini | June 06, 2010 at 08:35 AM
quindi questa mousse è cotta, non un semplice mix di fragole e yogurt, giusto? ;-) bella la prima foto variegata.
Posted by: astrofiammante | June 06, 2010 at 04:16 PM
Si', giusto, Astro. La prima cottura fa produrre un po' di succo che poi si mescola a succo di limone, zucchero e amido di mais. Poi, la seconda cottura fa addensare il succo. Io limito entrambe per mantenere il sapore delle fragole.
Posted by: Simona Carini | June 08, 2010 at 03:16 PM
Looks delicious! I love strawberries, so this recipe is definitely getting added to my list! Thanks for sharing! =)
Posted by: Fat Burning Furnace Review | June 25, 2010 at 03:34 PM
I am glad you found the recipe interesting.
Posted by: Simona Carini | June 29, 2010 at 01:16 AM
Luscious and creamy looking dessert.. Perfect..
Posted by: Fresh Yogurt | July 19, 2010 at 04:17 AM
This mousse sounds like my kind of dessert - light and delicious :D
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: Brown Butter Mixed M&M Chewy Cookies
Posted by: Choc Chip Uru | March 07, 2012 at 11:54 PM
Hi and thanks for stopping by. Indeed, it is quite light and healthy and also flavorful.
Posted by: Simona Carini | March 09, 2012 at 09:50 AM
Simona--I will be putting this on my list of recipes to try this summer. It looks way too good to not try!!
Posted by: Traci | March 12, 2012 at 08:25 AM
Hi Traci. It is really good: I hope you'll agree with me when you try it.
Posted by: Simona Carini | April 27, 2012 at 08:38 AM