Sundays with Chef Peter….
Daahlings,
How are you all today, hope you're having a wonderful weekend whatever your doing, lazing around, keeping fit, doing the washing or getting over that massive hangover from an over indulgent Friday night out!
I am having a melancholy sort of week, not many high points and too many lows! The high season has sort of come to an end in Phuket, the rains have started though we are having some lovely days and one can actually drive from point A to point B in a reasonable amount of time!
I always feel good when the sun is out, do you? And although some people think it's rubbish, I do believe the weather does affect one's mood, well me anyway but there again I am bit of a DQ daahlings or maybe it was just all that excessive partying the week before! J
When I am in one of these sultry moods I always find that food helps (of course) so I whip up one of my favourite dishes (or binge on junk food and ice cream!) to make the sun come out again (or at least in your kitchen it does)!
Is any of this making sense to you daahlings?
Chocolate is one of my loves in life. I have been in love with it since that first milky bar my mum put in my mouth! I am a pastry chef and have been so for the past 30 years so I have spent more time with chocolate than my family, partners or lovers. Chocolate is my mistress and I can never get enough of her!
To cover everything about chocolate would take forever and I will be writing more of it in the future but for today relating to the above I would like to share with you my secret for a very quick and easy dark chocolate mousse, guaranteed to lift your spirits any day!
And you only need two ingredients, good dark chocolate and whipping cream!
When I say good dark chocolate, I mean couverture (56-70% not compound or chocolate flavour bars as it doesn’t work and you end up with a split mousse.
Now the only down side to this chocolate mousse is that once you have made it you have to work with it quickly as it starts to set and even though it can be warmed slightly the results are not so good.
So if you are making a cake with it, just have your sponge ready and sliced or if just making chocolate mousse in glasses layered with fruits, have everything ready on hand so you can put together quickly.
The recipe is simple as it simply half chocolate to cream:
500gms Whipping cream
250gms Chocolate
1) Whip your cream in a mixer or by hand to soft peak
2) Melt the chocolate over a bain marie (make sure no water comes into contact with the chocolate) or in a microwave (great way to melt chocolate but do on medium setting and in short spells, giving the chocolate a good stir everytime). You want the chocolate to be hot (45-50 ̊c). If too cool it will set as soon as it hits the cream.
3) Quickly pour the chocolate into the cream and whisk on high speed or “quickly” by hand.
4) There you have your chocolate mousse ready for you to create your desserts or simply pipe into nice glasses or dishes and top with grated or flaked chocolate.
5) Keep in fridge still ready to serve and best to leave at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before enjoying. Also freezes very well.
6) Simply Delicious!
Happy Sunday and hope the sun is shining where you are!
And in case you do wish to indulge a little with a cake, pop down to Les Diables!
Till next week!
Chef Peter