Strawberry Mousse

Happy July, dear readers! It's still strawberry season here in Ontario (I can only imagine that you, like me, are thinking 'thank goodness!' to this statement) which means that finally here is my first strawberry-themed post!

When a friend came over last night to sample some of the object of this post, strawberry mousse, her response after the first bite was that mousse is an underrated dessert. I have to agree with her. Two of my other friends who I spoke to about making this mousse both gave rather surprised reactions. I can think of examples of chocolate mousse cakes that I've chosen to pass on because I assumed they would be too rich or too heavy - but strawberry mousse is in a different category. This is a refreshing and delicious way to end your meal on a hot summer night.

This is what I consider an ideal summer recipe. Not only does it use fresh seasonal fruit, but it is also simple to make. Even with the best air conditioning, it still can sometimes feel a bit wrong to me to turn the oven to bake anything when it's so hot outside. This mousse is made on the stovetop and chilled in the fridge so it doesn't do too much to heat up your kitchen. The lemon flavour shines through, which contributes to its refreshing-for-summer appeal. It's also pretty to serve, you can get creative about what you serve it in (last summer I opted for martini glasses) - and garnish with a fresh strawberry or two!

The Recipe:

4 cups strawberries
6 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1/2 pint heavy cream, OR 1 cup firm yogurt*

1. Wash strawberries, hull, and slice. When washing strawberries, just run them under the tap - there's no need to soak strawberries as they absorb water this way which will dilute the flavour. Place the 4 cups of sliced strawberries in a medium-sized saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the strawberries look like soup. Transfer to a medium sized bowl and set aside.
2. Without washing it first, use the same saucepan for this step. Combine the cornstarch, sugar, and lemon juice in the pan, and whisk until uniform.
3. Pour the still-hot strawberry soup back into the lemon juice mixture, whisking constantly. Return the pan to the stove and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick. This should take between 5 and 8 minutes - and feel free to sample the strawberry mixture at this time. If there is any bit of a residual cornstarch taste, continue to cook the strawberry mixture. Once thickened, remove from heat and stir in the lemon rind.
4. Transfer strawberry mixture back to the same bowl the strawberries had been in, and cool to room temperature.
5. Puree until smooth in a food processor or blender, and return to the bowl. Cover tightly and chill until cold.
6. Fold in the whipped cream or yogurt and serve garnished with a strawberry.

*Whipped cream vs. yogurt: I've made this mousse enough times that I've tried the various options. It is absolutely delicious with freshly whipped cream - however it is also much richer this way. I find that when I have made the whipped cream version, I only want to eat a few spoonfuls of this mousse before it becomes too much. When I first tried using yogurt, I used plain 0% fat yogurt - and the result reminded me rather of an extra delicious and fresh tasting strawberry yogurt - not quite a mousse. This time I tried Greek yogurt for the first time. Although the mousse wasn't quite as light as it would be with whipped cream, I found the balance of the thicker yogurt with the sweet strawberries to be delicious, and definitely not too rich. If you do opt for yogurt, make sure to stir the yogurt before adding it to the strawberry mixture to help give it an airy texture. Let me stress again though that all the options taste delicious - it just rather depends on how rich you want this dessert to be.

Although you could make this mousse any time of year, even with frozen strawberries in the winter, there is nothing more perfectly summery than sitting outside and enjoying a long summer evening with a good friend or two, and serving of strawberry mousse.

Happy Moussing!

Caroline