Fresh Strawberry Mousse

I can never get enough of strawberries and I do my best to eat them all summer long. I usually go out picking at least once and buy the remainder from the market. This summer has been especially busy and has flown by so my supply has come from some of my favourite vendors at the Parkdale Market. Even though I’ve been swamped I’ve found the time to experiment with a few things. As always, friends are only happy to be guinea pigs and a colleague with this year’s summer program was a fellow celiac. She got gf goodies to make up for all the staff birthday cakes she could only look at.

I’ve rarely had mousse for dessert because it is usually made with gelatine, and as vegetarian it’s a no-no. To be completely honest, I had cut out gelatine prior to becoming veggie – the concept just grossed me out (now that I’m a meat-eater I haven’t ventured it yet). So when I found this recipe while browsing in my good-old-Moosewood I couldn’t pass it up. I made it twice in one week; it’s that good! My colleague was in heaven and we couldn’t decide which was better – the strawberry mousse or the raspberry.

Make the trip to heaven and give it a try while the berries are still around.

Fresh Strawberry Mousse (from Moosewood Cookbook)     Serves 4-6

4 cups sliced strawberries
6 tbs cornstarch
½ -- 2/3 cup sugar
½ cup lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon rind
½ cup firm yogurt
Place strawberries in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat for 5-8 minutes, until soup-like. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl and set aside. Use the same saucepan (without washing) and combine the cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice. Whisk until uniform. Pour the strawberries back into the saucepan with the cornstarch mixture and whisk constantly. Cook over medium heat until thick, still whisking. Remove from heat and stir in lemon rind. Transfer back into the bowl and cool until room temperature. Purée until smooth then chill until cold. Fold in the yogurt and serve.