Paris will always be a home away from home for Phil and I.  If we could, we’d fly back there more often, but unfortunately we go through several years of (switching briefly to Portuguese) “saudades de Paris”.  Saudade is a word from my native language that has no exact match is English. From Wikipedia: “Saudade describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic or deeply melancholic longing for an absent something or someone who one loves”.  The word originated in Portugal to describe the feelings of family members of sailors who would see them leave shore on the glorious days of Portuguese expeditions, uncertain of their return.  And the exact same feeling hit the sailors themselves, as the distance between them and their beloved country would get bigger and bigger.  It’s been 3 years since we’ve last been to Paris, so the “saudade” is intensifying quite a bit.  How do I deal with it? I indulge in reading some wonderful French food blogs, like Du Miel et Du Sel, where I found this post about a chocolate mousse. It was described as  “légère comme une plumme“, or “light as a feather”.  It delivered exactly what it promised, a mousse without the cloying nature that often sends it over the top for my taste. The secret? No egg yolks and no butter!  Just pure chocolate deliciousness

MOUSSE AU CHOCOLAT
(from Marie Claire,  Du Miel et du Sel)

* 8 servings*

200 g dark chocolate (I used 72% cocoa)
200 g heavy cream
200 g egg whites (6 egg whites)
pinch of salt
60 g sugar

Cut the chocolate in small pieces and place inside a large bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a gentle boil, then pour it over the chocolate, one-third of the volume at a time, mixing well after each addition.  After all the cream is added, the chocolate emulsion should be very smooth, without any lumps.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt for a few minutes until they start to get some body.  At this point, add the sugar slowly, a little at a time, always whipping the eggs.  Beat until they form firm peaks.

Mix 1/3 of the beaten egg whites to the chocolate, no need to be gentle at this point, just mix it all well to lighten up the chocolate mixture.  Add the rest of the egg whites very gently, folding with a spatula, making sure not to deflate the egg whites too much.  Divide the mousse into 8 serving cups, refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

We make desserts exclusively when we have guests over for dinner.  For this particular occasion, we had three very special guests at home, a Brazilian scientists who came over to give a talk, and two friends from KSU.   Our Brazilian guest not only is a great scientist and a dear friend, but once suffered through a tricky situation in our home in Oklahoma.  He came to give a talk in our former department (just like he did now at KSU), and on that evening we hosted a lab party that ended with a strawberry genoise cake.  By far the worst concoction I’ve ever made, one that my guests ate in silence, but not the “good” type of silence.  The bottom layer of my “masterpiece” had somehow turned into a solid rock, hard to cut even with a serrated knife!  I know, I know, how could anyone achieve that?  It was very embarrassing. I wanted to disappear from the face of the planet. Of course, once the initial shock was over,  we laughed about it, and everyone salvaged the top layer of the cake and left the concrete part untouched.   I’ve never attempted a genoise again, although my friend Gary, patissier extraordinaire, keeps telling me to go for it.  I will, once I get over that trauma (sigh). Anyway, I wanted to exorcise the demons of my past, and make a dessert that our guests would enjoy. A chocolate mousse light as a feather could not possibly turn into a rock, right?  Right.  This was the happy ending I was hoping for our pizza party.  You can make them big, you can make them small, you can top with strawberries, you can add shaved chocolate, or go for the kill and top with some whipped cream.  Whatever route you choose, Marie Claire said it all in her post:

Vous allez vous lécher les doigts.  (It’s finger-licking good!)

ONE YEAR AGO: Black Olive Sourdough Bread

TWO YEARS AGO: Buttermilk Cluster

THREE YEARS AGO: Farfalle, Farfalle