Strawberries and Champagne Mousse

I have had a busy busy weekend at the hotel! Down in the pastry department yesterday I had to make and fill 550 martinis with **surprise surprise** Strawberries and Champagne Mousse. They turned out great and really would make a fantastic dessert for a dinner party, so I scaled down our recipe **a lot** and put them at the end of this post.



The bottom portion is a strawberry puree and it is topped with a champagne zabaione that is mixed 1:1 with whipped cream to get that mousse texture. **recipes below** We topped ours with a key lime cookie, but I think they would look fantastic topped with a strawberry cut lengthwise.

They are very easy to assemble and are sure to impress.

To Assemble



The basis of this mousse is a Champagne Zabaione. I looked into the history of this custard and found some really interesting information:


A Brief History of Zabaione

My favorite Italian Restaurant in San Diego is Salvitore's. Whenever I get the chance to go, for dessert I always get the Champagne Zabaione over berries. Its rich and decadent and silky smooth. Mmmmm!

I did a little research on Zabaione and I found it goes by many different spellings. It is a dish that’s popular in countries all over the world. Exact originations are not known, but versions of this dish can be traced back to the 1500’s.

It has been used as a drink, as a dessert, as a cure for numbness in a persons body and as an aphrodisiac. Here are a few of the other spellings:

Zabaione, Zablaiogne or Zabaglione – Italy

Baglione – Reggio Emalia in Northern Italy

Sabayone – France

Zambajoun or Zabajone – Archaic spelling

Sambayon – Uruguay and Venezuela

Sabajon – Columbia

Zabaja - Yugoslavia

Zabaione is an Italian custard, is similar to Egg Nog and the basic ingredients are egg yolks, sugar and a sweet wine.



****RECIPES****

Champagne Zabaione Mousse

· 1 cup Champagne
· 3/4 cup powdered sugar
· 5 large egg yolks
· 2 tablespoons corn syrup

· 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Bring a saucepan of water to a simmer. In a metal or glass bowl whisk Champagne, sugar, yolks and corn together. Set bowl over saucepan and make sure water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Whisk mixture constantly until it has tripled in volume, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Beat zabaione until completely cool, about 5 minutes.

Beat cream with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. ***You want it pretty well whipped so it will make a mousse consistency when mixed with the softer zabaione*** Once stiff peaks form, gently fold into zabaione mixture.



Strawberry Puree:

· 1 bag frozen strawberries (thawed)
· 1 teaspoon lemon juice
· 2 Tablespoons sugar

Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor until very fine. Taste and add more sugar if needed. Strain through a fine strainer (chinois) to catch the seeds.



***TIPS***
Make sure you put the whole bag of strawberries in the blender (liquid included) so it makes a sauce and not a paste.

If you wanted a different texture, you can only partially blend the strawberries and don’t strain and you’ll have chunks of strawberries in your dessert.

If you want to plan things ahead, both the zabaione mousse and the puree will hold well in the fridge for a couple days.

fills 6 martini glasses

History info and picture from: www.lifeinitaly.com, en.wikipedia.org and www.mycatholictradition.com