Dessert
Chocolate mousse with sea salt & olive oil
Few ingredients, but with a neat quenelle it looks expensive.
A good chocolate mousse needs only a handful of ingredients. The bluff is in the finish: a clean quenelle, a few flakes of sea salt and a thin drizzle of olive oil lift it from ‘pudding’ to ‘restaurant dessert’.
Method
- Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie or gently in the microwave and let it cool slightly.
- Stir the egg yolks through the chocolate.
- Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, add the sugar and whisk until glossy.
- Fold the whites into the chocolate in batches until smooth.
- Divide among glasses or a dish and chill at least 2 hours. Finish on serving with a quenelle, sea salt and olive oil.
The bluff
Quenelle + salt + oil
The mousse is simple; the finish makes it special. Roll a neat quenelle with two warm spoons, set it tidily on the plate and finish with a few flakes of sea salt and a thin drizzle of good olive oil. That salty-and-fatty contrast is exactly what star restaurants do.
Plating — how to make it look expensive
- Roll a neat quenelle with two spoons dipped in warm water.
- Set it slightly off-centre on a sharp, dark plate.
- Sea salt flakes and a thin drizzle of olive oil as the finishing touch.
What you say at the table
“Sea salt on chocolate, yes — trust me.”
What to drink
A small glass of port or an espresso.
Foto via Pexels