Pink Strawberry Mousse

My husband Tony had a combined bucks night/ Lan weekend to go to this past weekend. While I was picking up all the necessities (beer, coke, chips, lollies, chocolate) for him, I saw strawberries for sale. I haven't bought strawberries for ages! I've been burned buy the ones that look ripe in the store, but once home are a pale pinkish green colour and are tasteless. But I could smell these strawberries the minute I stepped into the supermarket so I just had to buy some. And seeing Tony wouldn't be home all weekend, I knew I wouldn't have to share!

After I'd dropped Tony off for the weekend (owning one car has benefits of being a lot cheaper, but also means occasionally we have to juggle if we both need the car on the weekend) I got home and was watching some trashy tv while googling recipes for this weeks meal plan. Those strawberries in the fridge were bugging me, I wanted them but I also wanted something sweet. Strawberry muffins or some kind of baked goods with strawberries just wasn't appealing. Then while browsing Best Recipes stumbled upon a recipe for strawberry mousse.

Years ago, in my first year at uni, one of my house mates had made this very recipe. I'd made it a few times before losing the recipes in one of my many moves. I'd forgotten about it until now. Oh my goodness, the taste is delicious. Light, creamy, sweet but not too sweet and nothing overpowers the taste of the strawberries. Delicious!

It is a bit fiddly, you have to mash the strawberries, whip egg whites, whip cream, and melt gelatine. But it's worth it. I dare you not to eat spoonfuls of the mix before it goes into the fridge to cool, it's just that good!



Strawberry Mousse
Ingredients
1 punnet of strawberries
1 teaspoon gelatine
2 teaspoons water
2 egg whites
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method
1. Wash and hull strawberries, mash well (I blitzed mine in my mini food processor for a few seconds until roughly chopped into small pieces)
2. Combine gelatine and water in small heatproof bowl or mug. Stand mix over hot water. (I put the gelatine and water into a coffee cup and sat that in a saucepan with small amount of simmering water.)
3. Whip egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually add in sugar, mixing until sugar dissolves.
4. Whip cream until soft peaks form.
5. Fold egg mixture into cream.
6. Combine strawberries, gelatine and lemon juice. Fold gently into cream and egg mixture.
7. Pour into mould or serving glass. Refrigerate until set. (I served mine in a glass with some grated chocolate on top. Then I ate the rest the next night straight from the container.)