Brussels sprouts' mousse

For ➍
500 g steamed Brussels sprouts (not too soft)
2 eggs, separated
1.5 dl lukewarm white sauce*
nutmeg
salt & pepper
250 g lean bacon** or vegan alternative

Preheat oven to 190°C. Butter the sides of the oven-dish and cover with bacon slices.
Put most of the sprouts (reserve a few for decoration) in a blender with white sauce*. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Fold yolks manually through the mixture.
Beat egg-whites until stiff and fold into the mixture.
Pour half in a greased oven-dish, put some sprouts in a row, add rest of the mixture. Cover with lean bacon.
Bake for 35 m.
Let cool a bit. Serve in slices as paté.

*Use the (rather firm) white sauce recipe.
Or: replace white sauce with 1 tbs light cream. The mousse will be slightly firmer.
**Without the bacon, serve with potatoes and lard (or pork). Or use a vegan alternative.

Excellent warm in winter, it can be served cold as a starter in warmer seasons.
Read the tip on cooking sprouts.

Zeewolf met asperges (burbot with asparagus)

For ➍
800 g burbot fillet*
1 kg new potatoes
1 bunch of lamb's lettuce
8 white asparagus
8 green asparagus
300 g garden peas
1 dl cream**
3 dl chicken broth
150 g butter
1 tsp thyme

Peel the potatoes. Peel the white asparagus; remove from the green only the hard end.
Cook the potatoes until done. Cook the asparagus in salted water for 8 m. Cook the peas until done in the stock with the thyme. Spoon them out. Keep the stock.
Mix the peas with the cream (and possibly some stock). Season with salt and pepper.
Fry the fish fillets in a large knob of butter over a high heat for 2 m. Turn around and bake for 1 m. Turn the heat down a little and cook for another m. Season with pepper and salt.
Allow 100 g of butter to melt gently. Scoop out impurities that are coming up. Pour the clarified butter, without the sediment, into a pan
Serve the fish with the potatoes, the asparagus and the pea coulis. Pour butter clarified. Finish with tufts of lamb's lettuce.

*Or another firm fish like cod.
*Optional

Faisan à la gueuze et mousse de poireaux (pheasant with gueuze & leeks mousse)

For ➍
2 pheasants 700 g
4 tbs olive oil
40 g butter
15 cl cream
250 g fresh walnuts
5 cl gin
25 cl gueuze
salt, pepper
leek mousse

Blanch the nuts to remove the skin.
Clear the skin of the pheasant near the head and insert a finger to lift the skin up to the thigh. Push a little cream between the skin and the meat. Rub gently to spread the cream and close with a toothpick. Put a knob of salted butter in the belly and close with a toothpick.
Bind the legs, rub oil on the pheasants. Sauté in a pan with a little oil.
When pheasants are browned add the nuts and mix. Heat gin and blaze the pheasants.
Pour the gueuze over the fowl. Cook covered over low heat for 30 m.
Reduce the cooking juices and whisk in the butter.
Cut the white meat of the pheasants into 2 mm slices.
To serve, put leeks mousse on a plate, pour a little of the leek cooking juices around it. Put some slices of the pheasant on the mousse.
Pour the pheasants' sauce on the meat. Decorate with nuts.
In second service serve pheasant thighs with fried mushrooms with garlic and a little green salad.

Mousse de poireaux (leek mousse)

For ➍
3 leeks with 2 cm green, sliced
25 cl stock
chive, sage, marjoram, rosemary, finely chopped

Boil the stock. Add herbs and leeks. Boil for 5 m. Push through a sieve to extract all the juice.
Puree the leeks in a blender.
Mix a little of the cooking liquid and cream with the leeks.
Keep the rest of the cooking liquid aside.
Serve with fowl like pheasant.

Minty white chocolate mousse

For ➍
100 g white chocolate
8 tbs (1¼ dl) fresh cream
1 bunch mint leaves
4 eggs, separated
fresh or candied mint leaves to garnish

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie.
Meanwhile, heat the cream with about 8 mint leaves gently in a small pan. Remove the pan from the heat and let the mint leaves soak for a few minutes.
Stir the egg yolks into the melted chocolate.
Beat the egg whites into stiff peaks.
Remove the mint leaves from the cream and beat the cream into the chocolate mixture.
Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to create a light mousse.
Spoon the mousse into fine glasses or cups. Put them in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 h.
Decorate with a sprig of mint or a sweetened mint. Serve with thin wafers or biscuits.

Nutella mousse

For ➍
250 g whipping cream
2 ts confectioner’s sugar, sifted
3 tbs Nutella, or more to taste, at room temperature

Whip the cream with the confectioner’s sugar until quite firm. Add the Nutella, blending it softly with a wooden spoon in round, loving motions. Now refrigerate the combined elements of your pseudo-mousse for 15 m.

Serve plain or garnished with sifted bitter Dutch cocoa, a cinnamon stick and a few mint leaves.

Peppered chocolate mousse

For ➑
6 egg whites
20 cl cold cream
200 g top quality dark chocolate*
80 g confectioners' sugar
2 ts freshly grounded Balinese (long) pepper**

Melt the chocolate in bain-marie without stirring or in the microwave oven. Let cool a bit.
Beat the egg whites and slowly add the sugar. Beat the cream in an ice-cold bowl.
Fold the egg whites into the chocolate. Fold the cream into the mixture. Gently mix the pepper through the mixture.
Pour into glasses or cups and put in the refrigerator.

*With at least 60% percentage of cocoa.
**Or a mixture of white pepper and mace. Jamaican spice is an excellent substitute.

Speculoos mousse

For ➍
4 eggs
1 sheet of gelatin
50 g candy syrup
75 g brown sugar
100 g speculoos, crumbled
25 cl cream
25 cl milk
cinnamon stick

Dissolve the gelatin in cold water. Cook the milk with the cinnamon. Beat the egg yolks with syrup and sugar until foamy. Add to the milk. Lower heat and stir until consistent. Remove from heat and add gelatin. Let mixture cool a bit.

Beat cream and mix through milk mixture. Add half of the speculoos. Beat egg whites until stiff and gently spoon through mixture. Make a layer of speculoos crumbs* on the bottom of the small serving dishes**. Gently pour in the mixture. Put in the refrigerator for several hours.

Serve with a cup of excellent coffee or a small glass of coffee liquor.

*Or put a thin slice of peperkoek (gingerbread) on the bottom.
**Alternatively, use chocolate cups.

Speculoos or speculaas is a cookie, made with, among other spices, cinnamon and cloves,and candy syrup. It is produced in Belgium, as well as in the North of France and Holland. They come in several regional varieties, differing in thickness, hardness and spices. Peperkoek, or pain d'épices, is a Belgian kind of gingerbread, made with similar ingredients.

Mousse au jambon (Brussels ham mousse)

For ➍
500 g cooked ham, two thin slices of ham on soil
500 g cream (35% fat!)
20 g gelatin leaves
vegetal colour enhancer
4 Paris mushrooms
toast
50 cl vegetable stock, made of
1 carrot
1 leek stalk
1 stalk celery green
2 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
1 red pepper
1 onion
2 shallots
8 g white pepper balls
1 clove

Cut the vegetables for the broth into large pieces. Add herbs, spices and 2 l of water. Let simmer 30 m. Pass the broth through a fine sieve.
Spread 20g gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 m.
Add them to 50 cl broth, season with salt and pepper. Make a splash with darker Patrelle. Measure 25 cl off to the mousse to add, like the rest of the jelly layer.
Cover a rectangular shape of 3 cm depth with plastic wrap. Place the ham slices on the bottom.
Cut the ham into pieces of 5 cm, mix them into a fine puree. If possible, push through a sieve tamis.
Beat 500 g cream into a smooth mass.
Add 25 cl vegetable jelly and ham in the mix, and mix for 2 more m.
Pour the mixture into a bowl with ½ of the whipped cream, stirring gently with a spatula.
Put in the refrigerator for at least 1 h. Spread some vegetable jelly on top. Return to the refrigerator.
Cut into rectangles and serve with sliced raw mushrooms and toast.