All The Live Long Day: Lemon Mousse

Last Saturday a week ago Marco and I had friends over for lunch. Seeing as I had just gotten The Little Paris Kitchen for my birthday, the whole meal was made up of Rachel Khoo's recipes. We had trout tartare with a rhubarb and cucumber relish for starters and Venison Wellington with asparagus and a white sauce for mains. Everything was so easy and quick to prepare, I had never felt that relaxed before a lunch date before. Yet I got compliments for the food. Happy!

For dessert, I had planned to make Rachel's Orange Mousse, but when I read through the recipe I realized that I could as well adapt it to make a lemon mousse, for which I had nearly all ingredients at home. I also increased the quantity, because in the book the mousse is a part of a trio of desserts and I wanted to serve it by itself. I still had an unopened jar of lemon marmalade that I brought back from Italy when I went to see my friend Ceci. I used that instead of regular marmalade and I substituted the original Cointreau with Limoncello. You need to start this recipe the day before you intend to serve it, as the pastry cream needs overnight chilling.

LEMON MOUSSE (adapted from The Little Paris Kitchen)

(serves 4)

NEED:

For the pastry cream:

3 medium egg yolks

50g caster sugar

20g cornflour

250ml milk

zest of one lemon, finely grated

To assemble:

2 tbsp Limoncello

5 tbsp lemon marmalade

300 ml double cream

zest of lemon

1/2 tsp caster sugar

DO:

To make the pastry cream, beat the egg yolks with the sugar in a large bowl until the mix becomes lighter in colour and thickens up a bit. Then add the cornflour and beat until combined.

In a small saucepan, combine the milk and lemon zest. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring all the time. Take off the heat and gradually add to the egg mixture. Make sure to add the milk in small quantities and to whisk vigorously while you do, otherwise the eggs might scramble.

Pour the mixture in a pot and return to a medium heat. Heat, stirring, until the mixture starts to thicken and throws bubble. Do not bring to a boil, remove it from the heat as soon as bubbles appear.

Pour the pastry cream into a bowl and cover with clingfilm. Push the clingfilm right down onto the top of the pastry cream, this will prevent a skin from forming. Place in the fridge and leave to chill overnight.

The next day, mix the Limoncello with the marmalade. Set aside.

Take the prepared pastry cream and whisk it until smooth. Whisk the double cream until stiff and fold half of it into the pastry cream until well combined, then fold in the rest of the whipped cream.

Carefully fill one third of the cream mix into a small glass with a teaspoon. Gently knock it on your work surface to get rid of any air.

Then layer half of the marmalade mix on top of the cream. Repeat the two layers and finish with cream. To garnish, mix the lemon zest and caster sugar and sprinkle this on top of the dessert. Serve with small galette or tuile biscuits if you like.