Bavarois de Poivrons Rouges (a red pepper mousse)

We had a ladies day here yesterday at le tasting room - three mums and two daughters joined us for a day discovering Loire valley wines in the Spring sunshine.

Here is the recipe for a very light red pepper mousse that I served for lunch with a fresh uncooked tomato sauce and a few lightly dressed salad leaves. It makes a good summer starter and although creates quite a lot of washing up, can be made the day before and then left in the fridge which is always a plus in my book.

You will need:
Half an onion finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
5 red peppers deseeded and finely chopped
A couple of tbs olive oil
seasoning

4 gelatine leaves put to soak in cold water
100ml wine vinegar
cayenne pepper
400ml whipping cream (I used creme entière)

Sweat the onion in the olive oil for about5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and peppers and season, then leave to cook for about 8 minutes with the lid ON.

If you want to 'dress' the top of the mousse with a layer of pepper jelly then after 8 minutes, drain off 100 ml of the juices that have been released by the peppers and put to one side. Then continue cooking the peppers etc for a further 20 minutes on a medium heat with the lid OFF until they are soft and all the liquid has evaporated (It took me about a further 6 minutes to reach this stage). Take off the heat and stir in the soaked gelatine leaves until they have dissolved.

When it has cooled down a little, blitz the mixture to a purée in the magimix and then push through a sieve or a mouli-legumes (the gadget with a handle that you turn round and it pushes the purée out the bottom). This is where you slightly despair at the washing up but take heart.

Reduce the vinegar to about a third and then add to the sieved purée, season with salt and cayenne pepper.

Whip the cream in a bowl until it's firm and then fold it in gently into the purée. The more gentle you are, the lighter it will be. Make sure the purée is at room temperature. Adjust the seasoning.

Pour into a tin ( I used one with a removal bottom) that is 25cm wide and 3cm high. You can also use a pastry ring. Put in the fridge and allow to set for a minimum of 4 hours.

If you are dressing the top with the pepper jelly then gently warm the 100ml of juice that you kept and stir in one gelatine leaf that you have soaked in cold water. When it has cooled, gently pour over the top of the chilled mousse and leave it to set.

I served this with a fresh tomato sauce.

Peel and de-seed about 8 tomatoes, chop and then blitz to a puree in the magimix. Now at this point you are supposed to pass this through a sieve but I lost the will and decided to go for a rougher purée (life too short and all that). Meanwhile, heat up 50ml of olive oil with a few basil leaves, a sprig of thyme, a strip of lemon zest and a couple of strips of orange zest. Leave it on a very gentle heat for about 5 minutes so the flavours are absorbed by the oil but don't let it boil. Add the infused oil to the tomato purée, season with salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes aren't super-ripe.

When you are ready to serve, take the pepper mousse out of the fridge and run a hot knife around the edge to loosen it. remove from the tin or if using the pastry ring gently pull it off. Serve in small wedges with a little of the sauce and a few dressed salad leaves.

So, not a complicated recipe but a bit of a faff. However, as I mentioned before, it keeps well in the fridge so can be made in advance and, would serve 10 -12 people - a little goes a long way.

As for a wine recommendation to serve with it - it's perfect with a dry rosé. Try a Rosé de Loire or one from one of the predominantly red appellations such as Domaine de la Noblaie's rosé (Chinon) or Pierre-Jaques Druet's rosé (Bourgueil).