Raspberry Coulis and White Chocolate Mousse with Fresh Blackberries

Well. An exciting week here at PDKTC. I've officially submitted my application to study at the renowned school of culinary arts Le Cordon Bleu in London, and I am ecstatic! In tribute to the school I was hoping to cook something blue this week (yes, I know, embarrassingly keen). Unfortunately, as you may or may not know, the edible world is sadly lacking in natural occurrences of the colour blue. In fact, supposedly when Heinz tried making blue ketchup a few years back no-one would eat it because the idea of blue food was just too much to handle. I finally settled on blueberries, which are actually more purple but at least have 'blue' in their name...


Another hiccup became apparent almost immediately. It is emphatically not the British blueberry season - they begin around June, so we're almost as far from last season as we can get. After a gruelling trawl around my local greengrocers and supermarkets, I came up with some rather suspect Mexican-grown raspberries and blackberries (fail on the food miles there). So much for the 'blue' theme. But bear in mind that from June to August this recipe would be delicious with in-season British blueberries in place of the fruit specified here. Please also bear in mind that it's best made the day or at least the morning before your meal.


A final note - in my version, the mousse mixture separated out into two distinct layers as it set in the fridge, a testament to my inaccurate quantities and inability to beat an egg white. However, if this does happen to you, both layers still taste good and in my view it just gives it an extra bit of personality!


On to recipes.


Ingredients
(Makes 3)


Punnet of raspberries
Punnet of blackberries
Large bar (c.200g) good quality white chocolate, broken into small bits - I used Green & Black's
2 eggs, separated
c. 100ml double cream
50g sugar
50ml water


Method


First of all, make the raspberry compote: put about 1/3 of the punnet of rasps into a small pan with the sugar and water. Warm gently, mash the raspberries up a bit, and bring to boil for 5 minutes or so, until the mixture begins to look syrupy. Set aside to cool slightly. Run 3 martini glasses (or wine glasses if you're not the martini type) under hot water, dry, and then divide the raspberry compote evenly between the glasses and refrigerate immediately.


Next, put a slightly larger pan of water on to boil, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Put the cream, egg yolks and chocolate into a heatproof bowl which just sits over the top of the simmering water and heat slowly until the chocolate melts, occasionally giving the mixture a very, very gentle stir. As the mixture is melting, whisk the egg whites in a scrupulously clean bowl until very stiff (if they won't stiffen, add a small splash of white wine vinegar and keep trying). When the chocolate mixture is fully combined, fold a small amount of it into the egg whites then fold the egg whites into the rest of the chocolate until completely consistent. 


Take your glasses back out of the fridge and fill each to within 1-2cm of the top with the egg and chocolate mixture. Put back in the fridge overnight, or for as long as you can (at least a few hours).


To serve, gently place or pile the remaining raspberries and blackberries on top of the glasses in a pretty pattern. Enjoy your achievement, it looks great!


...And a sneaky picture with some enormous flowers to distract from the quality of the photography...