Food is the same way. Think of a dish as a starting point. This is the familiar, perhaps a classic dish, something you've created and consumed plenty of times. Now, make a different turn. Add red wine instead of white. Use salmon instead of tuna, rice instead of pasta. Omit ingredients. Take what you've seen before and make it your own. After all, isn't that where making food becomes truly cooking?
So grab that basic milk chocolate mousse recipe and try something different. Dark chocolate standing in for milk. Up the number of egg whites. Scrap the vanilla extract in favor of creme de menthe. Above all else, enjoy:
Mint Chocolate Mousse
4 egg yolks
7 egg whites
6 oz bittersweet chocolate.
*note: Start with decent chocolate, not Tollhouse morsels.
4Tbsp sugar
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2Tbsp Creme de menthe or mint extract
1/2 C heavy cream
Using a mixer, whip the whites and half of the sugar to soft peaks.
Meanwhile, heat a large pan of water until it simmers. Add the yolks, mint, and rest of the sugar to a metal mixing bowl. Beat the mixture constantly until sugar is dissolved and the yolks are cooked. You can tell the mixture is ready when the bowl is clean when a whisk is used to scrape the bottom of it.
Remove the bowl from the heat and add the chocolate and butter. Slowly stir the egg chocolate mix until all the chocolate is melted. Put the bowl back over the simmering water if needed.
Carefully fold in the whites 1/3rd at a time. Whip the cream to almost firm peaks and fold it in. Chill the mousse for at least 2 hours. Serve with additional whipped cream and mint sprigs as desired.
