The strawberry mousse with Italian meringue is an elegant and delicious dessert. Easy to prepare it’s the perfect summer treat. The Italian meringue makes this mousse light, fluffy and safe to eat because the egg whites are pasteurised with the hot sugar syrup.
How to make Italian meringue
The Italian meringue is used in patisserie as a base for mousses and semifreddi. As I said above it’s perfectly safe, because the hot syrup pasteurises the egg whites. The Italian meringue is ideal for preparing mousses because it gives a fluffy texture and makes them more “stable”, so you can freeze them and they stay soft. To prepare this type of meringue you need egg whites, sugar and water.
Start preparing the syrup boiling the sugar with the water andleaving a thermometer into the liquid to check the temperature constantly. Meanwhile beat the egg whites at medium speed and when the syrup reaches 121°C pour it into the egg whites. Beat at high speeds until the meringue is stiff, smooth, glossy and cooled down to room temperature. You can use this meringue for mousses, semifreddi and also as a topping for tart like the key lime tart.
Stawberry mousse with Italian meringue
Ingredients
- For the strawberry puree
- strawberries halved : 500 grams
- leaf gelatine: 10 grams
- For the Italian meringue
- egg whites: 80 grams
- caster sugar: 160 grams
- water: 30 milliliters
- To finish
- double cream: 300 grams
- strawberries for the decoration
Instructions
- Blend the strawberries in a food processor until smooth. Pass the puree through a sieve to get rid of the seeds. Set aside.
- Prepare the Italian meringue. Start making the sugar syrup. Put caster sugar and water in a saucepan with a thermometer resting in the liquid. Let the syrup boil until it reaches 110°C. Start whipping the egg whites slowly and when the syrup reaches 121°C turn off the heat and pour the hot syrup into the egg whites. Increase the speed to high and continue to mix until cooled down to room temperature. Set aside.When pouring the hot sugar into the egg whites, keep the stream of liquid as close to the side of the bowl as possible; this will stop it splashing and allows the syrup to cool slightly before it hits the egg whites.
- Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes, or until soft.
- Put 4-5 tablespoons of strawberry puree in a small bowl and heat it gently in the microwave until lukewarm. Drain and squeeze well the gelatine and dissolve it into the lukewarm puree. Add the mixture to the remaining puree.
- Whip the double cream until it holds medium-firm peaks.
- Fold a tablespoon at a time the puree into the Italian meringue. Then fold the whipped cream.
- Pour the mousse into 6 or 8 glasses, cover with clingfilm and chill for at least 4 hours.
- Serve with a strawberry on each glasses.
