Lemon mousse with strawberries and blueberries

Culprit a visit to Costco (a supermarket where you buy food and supplies in large quantities), I found myself with a lot more blueberries that I could possibly eat: something like 3 kilos of blueberries.

The reason why I love blueberries so much is because they remind me of when I was little, spending Summer in our old mill on the Appennines Mountains in Emilia Romagna: our house was surrounded by woods where blueberries were growing everywhere, and my mother and I would go with our "blueberry comb" to collect them to then make preserve, mostly.

I have loved blueberry ever since, and they are my favorite fruit when it comes to preserves. But this time I felt I wanted to dare a little bit, and experiment with some Summer desserts. As you may recall from my New Year's resolutions' post, desserts and baking in general are not one of my strengths. So I picked up the Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful, and I started looking into it, and I picked two recipes: an old fashion blueberry and maple pie, and a Lemon Mousse with fresh berries.

The pie.

The pie came out very, very good, but the problem is that I am not a pie-person. Pies are a very British and

 American thing that I didn't grow up with, and I believe that tastes in desserts - more than in any other type of food - have their roots in your experiences as a child. A cupcake for an Italian like me will never taste as good as for an American who used to eat them as a child (and I LOVE cupcakes...).  

So the real star was the lemon mousse with strawberries and blueberries. The mousse reminded me the filling that my mother used to make for what we call Torta della nonna, a lemon-cream filled pie, while blueberries...well, I have already explained it. So here's the recipe.

Lemon mousse with blueberries aand strawberries (6 large portions or 8 small portions)
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I adjusted the recipe from the Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful to lighten it up a little: not because I am afraid of heavy desserts, but because I am not a fan of whipped cream on top of whipped-cream based mousse: it is a bit of an overkill, at least for me. Also: I have only used blueberries and strawberries, because I am not a fan of raspberries and blackberries, but you can adjust your "berry content" as you like, as long as you maintain the proportions. Or you can eat the lemon mousse as a stand-alone dessert, without any berry. I have also boosted the lemon content, to make the mousse even more lemony.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 1tbsp sugar
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (approximately 5 lemons)   
• 6 egg yolks 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 1/2 tbsp of finely grated lemon peel (approximately 3/4 of a lemon)
• 16 oz container of strawberries, cut in half or in fourth, depending on how big you like your berries
• 12 oz container of blueberries 
• 1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

How to make it

• Combine the sugar, the lemon juice, the eggs, the yolks and the lemon peel in a large metal or glass bowl (no plastic). Put the bowl over a pan with simmering water on a stove, and whisk the curd until it thickens and the temperature reaches 160F (71 celsius). Beware: the material of your bowl will determine the speed at which your mousse will "cook": a metal bowl will heat up faster than a glass bowl, so the former will let the mousse be ready a lot sooner than the latter. With a glass bowl (the one I used) it took 12 minutes of constant whisking. With a metal bowl that time may be cut in half. If you think that the curd is thickening, but you are not sure, it means that it is NOT thickening. You will see it when it thickens, believe me. See the photo below.
• Chill the curd for 1/2 hour, whisking occasionally (and taste it already: it will be lemony but delicious).
• Toss the berries in a separate bowl with the sugar, mix and let them rest for 15 minutes.
• Beat the whipping cream up until it is medium hard: it needs to be solid, but not too solid. Again, see the photo below. 
• Add the cream to the lemon curd in three separate additions, mixing every time. The mousse will start changing color, becoming clearer. 
• Taste it. I said TASTE IT, not devour it...
• Put the berries in 6 (or 8, depending on your appetite) glass containers. Even a water glass would do. Spoon the mousse over the berries, and eat...

Clockwise, from top left: beat cream until it is medium hard; lemon curd cooling down: note its texture; incorporating the whipped cream into the lemon curd; the lemon mousse is almost ready; spoon it on top of the berries, and you are ready to go.

The dessert can be made one day in advance, but since it is made with raw eggs, it is advisable not to let it in the fridge for too long...

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