Recipe: Easy fresh strawberry mousse lets flavor shine
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| This easy strawberry mousse contains no eggs. (Photos: Debbie Arrington) |
My garden yielded a bounty of fresh strawberries, the first of the season. How to celebrate? With a dessert that feels just as special as those first fresh-picked berries: Strawberry mousse.
Like anything French (at least food-wise), mousse comes with a reputation. Rich and silky chocolate mousse, packed with eggs as well as cream, is synonymous with decadent desserts.
By contrast, this strawberry mousse is light and airy, with no eggs. Without too much sugar, the strawberry flavor really comes through. Pushing the pulp through a sieve removes the many seeds and yields a mousse with a wonderfully smooth texture. This method would also work with stone fruits and other berries, such as blackberries.
Mousse is easier to make than it sounds; just take it step by step. It takes some preparation time, but the results will taste as special as those first strawberries.
Easy fresh strawberry mousse
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
2 cups strawberries, hulled and pureed (about 1 pound)
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons Cointreau or other liqueur (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon (1 packet) powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons warm water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
¼ powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sliced strawberries or other garnish
Instructions:
Wash and hull strawberries. Process in a food processor until pureed or mash by hand. In a large bowl, combine pureed strawberries and granulated sugar. Let sit 30 minutes to bring out the berries’ juices. Push the strawberry pulp and juice through a sieve to remove seeds and heavy fibers. You should have about 1-1/2 cups strained strawberry puree and juice. Add salt and the Cointreau or liqueur, if using; set aside.
In a glass measuring cup or small microwave-safe bowl, mix powdered gelatin with warm water until gelatin is dissolved. Let sit 3 minutes. Microwave gelatin mixture for 20 seconds on high to heat and melt the gelatin. Add ¼ cup of strawberry puree to gelatin mixture, then add gelatin mixture to strawberry puree. Stir gently to combine.
Either with an electric mixer or food processor, whip together whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whipped cream into strawberry puree mixture, stirring just enough that the color looks even and not striped with white.
Transfer mixture into serving dishes and chill at least 2 hours. Garnish, if desired, and serve.
Note: This mixture may also be chilled in a mold. Wet inside of mold first. Chill at least 4 hours.
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| Be sure to garnish it with more strawberries. |
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Flowers in My Back Yard Series
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May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs
May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power
May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens
May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend
April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look
April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower
April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact
April 7: Calendulas do double duty
April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come
March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)
March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots
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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 2
Get out early in the morning and monitor your garden’s moisture needs. Deep water and add temporary shade structures for plants that are feeling a little burned. In particular, protect developing peppers and eggplant.
* Put off fertilization until this heat passes; plants need to concentrate on hydration instead of growth.
* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers.
* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.
* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don’t let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.
* Pinch off dead flowers from perennials and annuals to lengthen their summer bloom.
* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot.
* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.
* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.
* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.
* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips. Make sure to keep seeds and seedlings consistently moist.
* Plant potatoes.
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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening
WINTER
Is edible gardening possible indoors?
Hints for choosing tomato seeds
Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees
When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
How to squeeze more food into less space
Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Win the weed war by tackling them in winter
Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables
Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
Ways to win the fight against weeds
FALL
Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden
Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it
Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come
Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying
Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
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