PASTRY: SWEET CHEESE MOUSSE WITH BERRIES

Our dessert tonight is a sweet cheese mousse. The mousse shouldn't be endangered by the same perils as Wednesday's ice cream but you never know. Hopefully the freezers will be working tonight and the overall mood will improve. It's Friday after all! Also below, Warm Pine Nut Tart With Plum Ice Cream (Landes), Tarte Tiède Aux Pignons, Glace Aux Prunes Fraîches and Summer Fruits With Grand Marnier Mousse (Vielle France), Fruits D'Été À La Mousse De Grand Marnier. An update after class...

DISH: Sweet Cheese Mousse With Berries (Anjou), Cremets D'Angers

RECIPE:
The Mousse
120 G Ricotta, Drained if Necessary
230 G Cream Cheese or Mascarpone
120 G Sour Cream
3 Tablespoons Confectioner's Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Teaspoons Finely Grated Lemon Zest
Pinch of Salt
250 ML Heavy Cream

The Finish
250 ML Creme Fraiche, Lighely Sweetened
250 G Red Berry Coulis
200 G Ripe Berry or Combination of Berries
Mint Sprigs

Procedure:
MOUSSE Mix all ingredients (120G ricotta, 230 G cream cheese, 120 G sour cream, 3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar, teaspoon vanilla, 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest, pinch of salt) except the cream by hand or in a mixer with a paddle until smooth. Whip the 250 ML heavy cream to soft peaks. Lighten cheese by whisking about ¼ cream in then fold in the rest. Line molds with a double layer of cheesecloth that has been rinsed in water and wrung out. Spoon mousse into lined molds to fill and pull up the cloth ends to cover the mixture. Allow molds to drain in the fridge, preferably overnight.

For the Finish
Unwrap and unmold cream onto center of chilled dessert plate. Nap one half of the mousse with the creme fraiche and the other half with the coulis. Surround with a ring of berries and garnish with a mint sprig.

BREAKDOWN: Well, the freezers seemed to be working a little better tonight along with the air conditioning though things still weren't at full strength.

We multiplied the recipe above by four and changed the procedure a little. Where it calls for 230 G cream cheese or mascarpone we used both, half and half. Before mixing any of the ingredients together, we mixed the sugar and the cream cheese/mascarpone together to work the stiffness out of the cream cheese and get the sugar blended in. While we multiplied all the ingredients by four we only used half the lemon zest recommended. This can be done to taste of course.

There is absolutely no cooking involved in this mousse, it's all about time-- the time it takes for the mousse to drain in the fridge and the time it takes for the berries to macerate. We used only one layer of cheesecloth to line the molds. One thing to remember is when filling the cheesecloth lined molds with the mousse is to gently pull it up against the sides to make sure that it lines their bottoms, otherwise when you unmold them they will be mishaped.

For the coulis we used frozen fruit puree, 500 G raspberry puree and 500 G strawberry puree, brought to a boil with the juice of one lemon and 200 G of sugar, then chilled. If done from scratch with fresh berries the coulis would be a few pints of berries with sugar and lemon juice, macerated (allowed to stew) then boiled, blended and strained through a cheesecloth.

We also zested lemons, julienned them (cut them in long strips), blanched them (boiled briefly in water), shocked them in ice water, blanched, shocked, drained, dried and tossed them in sugar. Used as garnish on top of the creme fraiche they were almost like candy. A good way of getting the most out of your produce in the kitchen. When plating we needed to take care to drain the berries of juice before spooning them on because otherwise the juice looks watery on the plate when it mixes with the coulis.

I really liked this dessert. The mousse wasn't very sweet but it didn't need a lot of sugar because the berries and the coulis brought more than enough to the dish. It's a light and delicate but creamy mousse that has a subtle flavor. I'd definitely make it outside school, maybe with a little more zest in the mousse and letting it set over a longer period of time to see how the consistency changes. While slightly messy, it's a colorful dish-- while pretty it might be better to plate it with the berries surrounding the mousse and the coulis on top.

We hoped to do the other recipes but unfortunately even though we had the time the environment for doing extra dishes wasn't ideal. I've included the recipes below for future reference. Maybe we'll get to them on a second time around through pastry.

Tuesday's Dessert:
Warm Pine Nut Tart With Plum Ice Cream (Landes), Tarte Tiède Aux Pignons, Glace Aux Prunes Fraîches

Plum Compote
900 G Plums
60 ML Simple Syrup
50 ML Plub Brandy (Slivowitz)
450 G Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
½ Lemon, Cut in Pieces
5 While Cloves
1 Cinnamon Stick

The Ice Cream
500 ML Heavy Cream
500 ML Milk
10 Egg Yolks
150 G Sugar

The Tart Shell
150 G Flour
½ Teaspoon Salt
100 G Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
60 G Cold Butter, Cut in Small Cubes
4 Egg Yolks

The Tart Filling
60G Butter
125 G Pine Nuts
75 G Almond Flour
150 G Sugar
3 Eggs
25 G Potato or Cornstarch
½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt

Procedure:
PLUM COMPOTE Cut one-third of plums in macédoine and mix with simple syrup and brandy. Refrigerate overnight. Chunk remaining plums. Mix 1 L water with sugar, vanilla, lemon pieces, and spiced in a sachet. Boil, add chunked plums, poach until soft and falling apart. Strain plums and reserve and reduce liquid to use as sauce.

ICE CREAM Make ice cream in standard way. After cooked and strained custard cools, stir in cooked plums and strained marinated macédoine of plum. Chill. Process in ice cream machine and freeze.

TART SHELL Make dough and chill for 30 minutes using standard procedure: sift 150 G flour onto table with pinch of salt and sugar. Add yolks and vanilla to flour mixture in a well and mix. Add chopped butter and do fraisage (pressing the mixture into the table with the base of your hand). When it is all mixed round it into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill in fridge.

TART FILLING AND BAKING Preheat oven to 375ºF. Melt some butter and sauté pine nuts until golden. Drain and reserve butter and let nuts cool. Melt rest of butter and add to that reserved. Mix ground almonds and sugar and beat in eggs one by one until light and thick. Sift together starch, baking powder, and salt over mixture and fold in gently. Roll out dough to fit an 11 to 12-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Dock bottom and chill for 15 minuts. Pour batter into shell and bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 mintues until it sets. Quickly scatter an even layer of the nuts over the top and continue baking tart about 30 more minutes until the the top is golden and the filling is firm.

For the Finish:
Serve a wedge of the warm tart with a scoop of the ice cream alongside.

Thursday's Dessert:
Summer Fruits With Grand Marnier Mousse (Vielle France), Fruits D'Été À La Mousse De Grand Marnier

For The Orange Tuiles
100 G Butter, en pommade
200 G Sugar
200 G Chopped Almonds or Almond Flour
Grated Zest of 1 Orange
Juice of 1 Orange
90 G Flour
30 ML Orange Liquer

For The Mousse
225 G Sugar
Small Rosemary Branch
5 Egg Yolks
Pinch of Salt
750 ML Heavy Cream
125 ML Orange Liqueur

For The Fruits
175 G Strawberries
175 G Raspberries
175 G blueberries
175 G Melon
175 G Pitted Peaches
175 G Pitted Plums
1 Teaspoon Orange-Flower Water
2 Tablespoons Julienne of Mint

The Garnish & Service
Candied Orange Peel, Cut Julienne
Mint Sprigs

Procedure:
TUILES In a bowl mix softened 100 G butter with each ingredient succesively (200 G sugar, 200 G chopped almonds/almond flour, grated Zest of 1 orange, juice of 1 orange, 90 G flour, 30 ML orange liquer) and cool in fridge for one hour. Preheat oven to 400°F. Using a fork dipped in cold water, spread batter evenly and thinly into 3 to 3½-inch circles on a sheet pan lined with a silpat (very cool non-stick silicon baking sheets) and bake tuiles in preheated oven for about 7 minutes, then remove, shape and set aside.

MOUSSE Put 225 G sugar in a small russe with 125 ML water and rosemary. Boil, simmer 1 minute discard rosemary and boil syrup. Put 5 yolks and salt in mixer bowl fitted with whip and whisk gently, increasing speed. When syrup reaches 240°F reduce mixer speed & slowly pour syrup over fluffed yolks. Increase speed again and whip sabayon (French zabaglione, whisking together egg yolks, wine, traditionally MARSALA, and sugar. This beating is done over simmering water so that the egg yolks cook as they thicken into a light, foamy custard) until cold. Meanwhile, whip cream to soft peaks, cover and put in fridge til needed. When sabayon has cooled remove bowl from mixer and cream from fridge. Pour liqueur into the cream and rewhip slightly. Fold into cream into cooled sabayon and pour mousse into a chilled bowl and set over ice. Cover and store in fridge until needed.

FRUITS Prepare fruits and cut into attractive shapes where necessary. Macerate fruits with orange-flower water and mint, covered at room temperature.

For the Finish:
Arrange a balanced portion of the fruits in a shallow bowl and nap with a bit of mousse. Garnish with some orange peel and a mint sprig and serve with an orange tuile.