Chocolate mousse

After we adventured through Ghent, Brussels and Bruges, we returned to Antwerp for our final Belgian destination. Our host, PJ, took us to a quiet but amazing restaurant that our other host, Hanne, described as the best restaurant in Antwerp. I really wish I remembered the name . . .

The menu featured many decadent sounding dishes like roasted bone marrow, but we opted for the set menu of the day. The first course was zucchini stuffed with duck. This was so good, I can barely even describe it. First, I was so enamored by the spherical zucchini. Also I love grilled zucchini, so I was already pretty excited by this dish. As for the duck, it reminded me of corned beef, both in taste and texture. The meat pulled apart with no resistance and just melted in your mouth. It was also flavored with pink peppercorns, which added a beautiful brightness to the dish.

The second course was a white fish served with a roasted lemon quarter, a roasted yellow tomato, and a scoop of risotto. The fish was so moist and it tasted even more delicious when I spread the inside of the roasted lemon on it. The creamy risotto was a great complement, as was the yellow tomato as well.

It seemed hard to believe that dessert could stand up to such a wonderful meal thus far, but the two desserts we selected definitely held their own.

First, the chocolate mousse – decadent, rich chocolatey flavor, just the right level of sweetness . . . I think this may have been the most perfect chocolate mousse I’ve ever had, and that’s really saying something.

Second, vanilla creme brûlée with a cookie spoon. So delicious, but also so beautiful – just look at those vanilla seeds mixed in with the custard and topped with a perfect layer of caramelized sugar.

Seriously, what a treat! This was an absolutely amazing meal, and we were so grateful to our hosts for introducing us to such a wonderful restaurant.

Of course, an evening in Belgium must end with beer. Our beer education continued with four more – Mystic, De Koninck, Orval and Duval.I probably wouldn’t say any of these were my favorite of the trip, but it was still fun to experiment with even more Belgian beers.

I relish the opportunity to try new desserts. This time around, guests were coming for dinner and I was planning on serving short ribs, so obviously we would need something chocolatey to follow the main course.

I chose this beautiful Triple Chocolate Mousse recipe, partly because I love chocolate mousse and am in search of a go-to recipe, and because I knew I wanted to make a dessert without flour. AND the idea of a layered triple mousse sounded awesome and super impressive if I could pull it off.

After checking the pantry, I found 60% chocolate, white chocolate, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I wasn’t sure how much of a difference in taste there was between the two chocolates, so I ended up adding some Kahlua liquor to the semi sweet chocolate chips later.

This recipe also used a surprisingly small amount of sugar (2 Tbs for the whole thing), which was great.

Here you can see the custard that served as the base for the mousse.

You may notice a lack of photos midway through the process . . . this is because I had some issues melting the chocolate and so had to improvise a bit to achieve the smooth and glossy texture you are looking for. It was totally a miscalculation on my part, and nothing to do with the recipe though, which means that once the chocolate actually was melted the whole process continued smoothly.

Note to self: next time use shallower glasses so you don’t have to fill ‘er up with so much whipped cream at the end. Ah, whatever, the whipped cream was a nice base for the raspberries.

Chocolate mousse and raspberries are another perfect combination, in my opinion.

Here you can see the layers of the chocolate, which is achieved by allowing each layer to slightly freeze before you add the next layer.

Ah, this was sooooo good, both taste-wise and texturally. I seriously can’t wait to make it again . . . and take better pictures of it . . . sorry, the anticipation level was too high by the time I finally got to try this!

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Chocolate mousse