Getting Ahead: The mousse can be prepared and chilled up to 24 hours ahead. Unmould and decorate not more than 1 hour before serving. * plus at least 2 hours chilling time. ORDER OF WORK:
#For this delicate mousse choose fine, fresh apricots with a deep gold color, intense perfume, and soft, velvety skin.# Poach The Apricots: With the vegetable peeler, pare the zest from the lemon. Squeeze the juice from the lemon.
Halve and stone the apricots. Set aside 2 apricot halves for decoration. “Use indentation on apricot as guide for cutting”
Put the water, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan and add the sugar. Heat until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes.
Add the apricots to the syrup. Cover them with a round of parchment paper and set the heatproof plate on top to weigh them down. Poach until very tender, 10-15 minutes.
Drain the apricots, reserving 125 ml of the poaching liquid Drain the apricots, reserving 125 ml (4 fl oz) of the poaching liquid. “Pour out hot mixture carefully” “Hold sieve over bowl to collect poaching liquid” #Prepare The Apricot Mousse#Puree-the-apricots-in-the-food-processor Puree the apricots in the food processor; there should be about 750 ml (1 1/4 pints) of purée. Pour the cream into a chilled bowl and whip until it forms soft peaks, then chill it Soften the gelatine in the reserved liquid.
In the medium saucepan, whisk together the eggs… In the medium saucepan, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and apricot purée until well blended. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, just until it boils. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and whisk thoroughly until it is light and cooled to tepid, 5-7 minutes.
Melt-the-softened-gelatine-and-whisk-it-into-the-tepid-apricot-mixture Melt the softened gelatine and whisk it into the tepid apricot mixture. Continue whisking until cool. TAKE CARE: The mixture must be warm when the gelatine is added or the gelatine may set instantly and form lumps.
Set the bowl over iced water and stir the mixture until it begins to thicken. Working quickly, fold in the whipped cream and kirsch. Cut down into the centre of the bowl, scoop under the contents and turn mixture over with a rolling motion.
Pour the mousse into the mould. Chill until the mousse is firmly set, at least 2 hours. “Gelatine tends to stiffen on chilling, so let the mousse stand at room temperature about 1 hour before serving if it has been made ahead.” #Unmould And Decorate The Mousse With Chantillly Cream And Apricots#Run the small knife around the edge of the mould Run the small knife around the edge of the mould, then dip the base of the mould in a bowl of warm water for a few seconds to loosen the mousse. Dry the mould base, set a serving plate on top of the mould, and invert the mousse onto the plate. “if the mousse sticks, coax the sides away with your fingers.”
To make the Chantilly cream, pour the cream into a chilled bowl and whip until soft peaks form when the whisk is lifted. Add the sugar and vanilla essence and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Take care not to overbeat because the cream will be worked further when forced through the piping bag. If it is too stiff, the cream will separate.
Unmould And Decorate The Mousse With Chantillly Cream And Apricots 3 Fill the piping bag with the Chantilly cream. Decorate the base and top of the mousse with small stars, and the centre with a circle of piping. Slice the reserved apricot halves and complete the decoration. “Chantilly cream is piped into stars to decorate mousse” #TO SERVE#The mousse can be prepared and chilled up to 24 hours ahead
Keyword Dessert recipes, Fruit Desserts, Gluten free, Mousse recipes
