Chocolate and Lemongrass Mousse

When I made this, it was just to get another one made from the Green & Black's cookbook. I thought chocolate and lemongrass would be weird, but it was...actually nice. Really yummy.

Yay :)

It's just that the first 4 years that lemongrass was in my life I'd only ever known it in the form of Fairy lemongrass antibacterial washing up liquid. And so it took me the next 4 years to get over the idea that lemongrass was in fact, an ingredient, and not just what washing up liquid tasted like.

I actually quite like the chocolate and lemon combination now. Maybe I might even try dipping lemons in the chocolate fountain next time. It can't be worse than dipping in cheddar cheese slices, but that's a story for another day...

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That's the milk and lemongrass boiling together. Nothing much to report.

That's the chocolate going into the milk mixture. Even less interesting to report.


The next part was to sieve the chocolate and milk mixture to remove the lemongrass bits. To me it looked a bit like a science experiment...in fact, do you see much difference between this photo and my A level physics coursework photo?

Can you even tell which one's which?? No, didn't think so.

Though one's got hydrochloric acid and a ball bearing in it, so er, pick carefully.

This photo of the cream and chocolate mixing reminds me of the unlimited ice cream factory at Pizza Hut. You know, the one where you stuff your face with hundreds and thousands and an hour later stumble out of the restaurant feeling satisfied but ever-so-slightly nauseous. As Irene Cara would agree - what a feeling :)

I really recommend that you try it, it's chocolate mousse with a surprise! (Unless you mix it up with a science experiment, of the hydrochloric acid variety).

Also, one last thing before I go, I went on a bit of a bakeathon at the weekend, blog posts to come. Next stop, pecan pie!

Lesson learned today: Mousse makes you reminisce. I call it "reminmousse". Hehe.

Chocolate and Lemongrass Mousse From the Green & Black’s cookbook Prep time: about 2 hours including 1 hour infusing time (read on, you’ll see what I mean) Chilling time: 2 hours Serves about 6, 4 if you’re greedy and/or have discovered a new found love for CHOCOLATE AND LEMONGRASS! 3 sticks of lemongrass 200ml milk 270g milk chocolate (preferably 34% cocoa solids), broken into pieces 1 ½ gelatine leaves 50g caster sugar 300ml double cream Finely chop the lemongrass into small pieces or grind in a food-processor or a pestle and mortar. Pour the milk into a large, heavy based saucepan, add the lemongrass and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 1 hour. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended over simmering water. Whisk the sugar and gelatin into the milk and return to a low heat, stirring continuously until the gelatin has melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the melted chocolate. Leave to cool slightly. Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove the lemongrass. Allow to cool down completely. Whip the cream in a bowl until it begins to thicken, but it should not be too stiff. Gently fold into the chocolate mixture. Spoon the mousse into our chosen containers.