Cheese Mousse with Summer Berries

Submitted by derMoerder

This is a dish from my four-course cheese menu for Iron Chef SA XV:The Big Cheesy

1. Parmesan-Corn Soup
2. Goat Cheese Tart
3. Bleu Peanut Butter and Cherry Sandwich
4. Cheese Mousse with Summer Berries

Ingredients

• 2 Lemons
• 120g Ricotta Cheese
• 230g Mascarpone Cheese
• 120g Sour Cream
• 6 Tbsp Confectioner's Sugar
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• Pinch Salt
• 250ml Heavy Cream
• 6ea Egg Whites
• 300g Sugar for Meringue
• 2pts Raspberries
• 1pt Blackberries
• 4 Tbsp Sugar for Coulis
• Mint for Garnish

Procedure

• Mix together ricotta, mascarpone, sour cream, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, salt and the zest of two lemons. Let drain suspended in cheesecloth over a bowl for a good 12 hours. This recipe could have you drain the cheeses and sour cream first, but it would be silly to do so since the sugar will draw out more moisture anyway. It's better to just drain everything together.
• Whip the cream to nearly stiff peaks. Mix a 1/4 of the cream into the cheese base to lighten it, and then carefully fold in the rest. Reserve the mousse in the refrigerator.

• Combine egg whites with a tsp of lemon juice and the 300g sugar. Whip furiously until the meringue holds stiff peaks.
• Press 1/4c of the raspberries through a sieve and gently fold the resulting goo into the meringue to give it a nice pinkish color and a lot of raspberry flavor.
• Now place a ringmold on a silpat sheet. With a piping bag and small round tip, evenly fill the base of the ring mold 1/8-1/4in thick. Move the ringmold to a new spot and repeat. Here we're creating the biscuits which will be layered within the mousse. As pictured, I actually did it in an entire sheet and cut out the biscuits, which was much more difficult to do. I also made some plain since I wasn't sure the raspberry ones would be delicious. Do as I say, not as I do.
• Bake at least 8 of these at 350°F until they begin to brown. Let them cool.

• Combine 1 pint of raspberries with sugar, 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and 1/4C of water. Mash the raspberries and simmer the mixture until it takes on a syrupy consistency.
• Push this mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds and let cool. This is your raspberry coulis.

• All the elements of the dish standing by, we're ready to plate. Place the ringmold on the plate and start off with a meringue biscuit on the bottom. Fill halfway with mousse, add another biscuit, and finally top with mousse. Smooth this out and remove the ringmold.
• Decorate the plate and mouuse with some coulis and spread some berries around the plate. Place a sprig of mint atop the mousse and serve.