We’re trying something new this year. Each week The Medium will chat with a UTM professor about one of their favourite recipes.
This week Josée Johnston, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, shares a chocolate mousse recipe by the one and only Nigella Lawson. (If you don’t know who Lawson is, hang your head in shame and turn on the Food Network as soon as possible. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do.)
Johnston says she learned about the recipe while showing Lawson clips in class to demonstrate the concept of food porn, and “to show students how female food celebrities are often highly sexualized and depict certain gender stereotypes”. The clip can be viewed on YouTube by searching for “Nigella Lawson: Chocolate Mousse: Express”.
“During this particular clip, Nigella Lawson showcases all of these features, but in the process, also shows off a delicious way to make chocolate mousse that is incredibly easy,” continues Johnston. “I have made chocolate mousse from different recipes, and it usually involves separating eggs and eating raw eggs. The Nigella Lawson method simply involves melting things. It’s dead simple, and yet the results are still very good.” According to Gourmantine Blog, it’s the second-best chocolate mousse recipe ever.
This is one kind of porn I think I’ll dare to watch—and even recreate.
Instant Chocolate Mousse
(adapted from nigella.com/recipes/view/instant-chocolate-mousse-4 and as seen in Nigella Lawson’s book Nigella’s Express)
SERVES 4 TO 6
INGREDIENTS
- 1 ½ cups (150 g) mini marshmallows
- ½ stick (50 g) soft unsalted butter
- 11 ounces (300 g) dark high-quality chocolate, chopped (Johnston advises that regular chocolate or chocolate chips will yield a sweeter—perhaps too sweet—mousse)
- ¼ cup (60 ml) hot water (from a recently boiled kettle)
- 1 cup (250 ml) 35% whipping cream
- 1 tsp (4 ml) vanilla extract
METHOD
- Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy-based saucepan.
- Put the saucepan over a gentle heat to melt the contents, stirring every now and again. Remove from heat.
- Meanwhile, whip the cream with the vanilla extract until thick, and then fold into the cooling chocolate mixture until you have a smooth, cohesive mixture. (Johnston warns, “You have to be careful at the end when you fold in the whipping cream not to deflate it; fold carefully.”)
- Pour or scrape into 4 glasses or ramekins, about ¾ cup (175 ml) each in capacity, or 6 smaller ½ cup (125 ml) ones, and chill until you want to eat. The sooner the better!
