Lemon Mousse in 60 Seconds

July 21st, 2009  |  54 Comments

Ok, ok. You have to have lemon curd on hand first.

Ugh, lemon curd. Sounds like something you churn up in a barn. But despite its rather unpleasant sounding name, it is one of the most valuable recipes to have in your repertoire. Not only does it taste incredible, like a lemon exploded in not only your mouth but the immediate surrounding area, it’s as versatile as Johnny Depp. You can use it simply to top off a scone or as a dip for shortbread, slather some between cake layers (coconut or yellow cake work great), or pipe some in a tart shell and top with fruit for an insta-tart.

When I was a wee pastry assistant at my first restaurant job, the pastry chef (and the chef that I now consider my mentor) taught me how to make lemon curd. Because we always made large batches of everything, my setup consisted of a bowl the size of a satellite dish parked over a heavy-duty pot of boiling water. Dozens of eggs were cracked and cases of lemons were juiced into this monster basin. There I stood, full body hunched over this stew, whisking like my life depended on it. Whisking, whisking. Whisking the crap out of this mix. Blisters were forming on my hands from the giant strokes. The steam bubbling from beneath the bowl was starting to infiltrate every pore. Sweat dribbled down the sides of my face, into my jacket collar. Finally, coming close to my threshold for pain, I asked the chef, “How do I know when it’s done?” I waited expectantly for his wisdom. With a mischievous glint in his eye he smiled, and said “When the sweat starts pouring down the crack of your ass.”

I guess it was done.

Thankfully, this small batch couldn’t be easier and comes together in about 15 minutes. If curd alone isn’t good enough, take it to a whole ‘nother level. By simply folding in whipped cream, it transforms into a lemon mousse, one so light and velvety,  it evaporates off the tongue before you even realize what’s happening. This dessert becomes the star of it’s own movie, carrying the whole production.

First, the Lemon Curd
makes about a pint

3 large eggs

3 large eggs yolks

1/2 cup sugar

zest of 1 lemon (strip the lemon of zest before you juice, or you’ll be desperately trying to scrape zest off lemon peels, like I’ve been caught doing)

1/2 cup lemon juice (if you want this to taste fresh and vibrant, not chemically and processed, you MUST squeeze your own lemons. Five or six lemons should do it. Taking the time is beyond worth it.)

pinch of salt

2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, cut up into small pieces

1. Gather the goods. While you’re gathering, fill a medium pot with a couple of inches of water and bring to a boil. We’re going to improvise a double boiler.

2. Plop the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt into a large bowl. Keep the butter chilled.

Whisk it up.

3. Set the bowl over the pot with boiling water. This is our faux double boiler.

4. Now whisk like a hurricane, fast and furious. You must whisk the entire time the bowl is over the water. Keep the mixture moving, so the eggs don’t get a chance to scramble. After a few minutes (five?) it starts to get frothy. (If necessary, hold the bowl still by gripping the edge with a kitchen towel.)

Keep on whiskin’. After a few more minutes (five more?), it transforms into something creamy.

Whisk for another minute just to thicken it up.

5. Take the bowl off the heat. Feed it a handful of butter and whisk it in. The residual heat of the curd will melt it.

Keep adding handfuls of butter until it’s all in and fully incorporated. If you still see any little lumps, return to the double boiler for a brief minute, until they disappear, but this is rarely necessary.

6. Push the curd though a fine mesh sieve to remove the stray bits of scrambled egg that didn’t cooperate.

7. Voila. Strained curd.

You can enjoy it warm or…

…put a piece of plastic wrap directly on its surface to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate. Once it’s completely cold, wrap the whole container tightly and store. (The curd will firm up considerably as it cools. Give it a good stir to loosen it up again before using.) You can store it in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze for up to a month. To defrost, let the container thaw in the fridge overnight.

Second, the Lemon Mousse
Talk about being able to whip up a dessert on the fly! This makes 6-8 servings, depending on how much you can put away in one sitting. In my house, sometimes it’s even less than 6.

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups lemon curd (recipe above, in case you missed it)

1. The add-ons.

2. Throw the sugar in with the heavy cream and whisk your buns off. We want it to reach “soft peak” stage, which means you can see streaks in the cream, but the peaks are not stiff and defined.  The peaks should be sad and droopy.

3. Because we whipped air into the cream and made it light and delicate, and because the curd is heavy and dense, we will fold the cream into the curd gradually, so we don’t completely deflate the cream. Scoop a third of the whipped cream into the bowl with the curd. You can eyeball this. It doesn’t have to be exact.

Gently fold it in.

Here it is folded. You can see it looks lighter already.

4. Scrape in the rest of the heavy cream and fold it in.

5. Spoon into pretty wares. This can be served right away, or refrigerated for up to 8 hours.

Enjoy!