There are certain dishes that always and forever will remind me of my mother. My mother is an early disciple of Julia Child and Craig Claiborne, and a fantastic classical French cook. One such dish is berry mousse, which my mother makes with egg whites, whipped cream, and a bit of gelatin (and no yolks), so it is airy and delicate. I had spare egg whites from making pasta, and the British raspberries in the supermarkets have been singing a siren song to me. And perhaps I was feeling a little nostalgic for my mother’s mousse. I had intended to make chocolate tuiles to accompany the mousse but ran out of time – hence the port chocolate sauce, which is bittersweet, boozy, and delicious.

Ingredients

For the mousse

170 grams (6 ounces, or about 1 and ¼ cups) fresh raspberries

2/3 cup caster sugar

3 egg whites, brought to room temperature

½ cup whipping cream

½ sachet gelatin powder

2 tablespoons boiling water

For the port chocolate sauce

50 grams excellent quality bittersweet chocolate (I used Green & Black’s 72%), chopped

2 tablespoons tawny port

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1 tablespoon whipping cream or single cream

1-2 tablespoons hot water, if necessary

Method

For the mousse:

Put two glass or stainless steel mixing bowls in your freezer to chill. In another bowl, prepare an ice bath.

Heat the raspberries and half the sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan over low heat until sugar is fully dissolved, and raspberries are soft. Mash the raspberries into the liquid to create a syrup. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, thoroughly dissolve the ½ sachet gelatin powder in the boiling water, and then stir into the raspberries. Strain the raspberries through a wire mesh sieve, mashing with a wooden spoon to extract as much syrup as possible. (This also ensures there are no lumps of gelatin in your mousse.) Set your raspberries in the ice bath to cool to room temperature.

Beat the egg whites until very stiff and glossy, adding the remaining sugar once the whites reach the creamy stage. In the chilled bowl, beat the whipping cream until stiff. Fold in the raspberries and then the egg whites. Do not overmix. Transfer to your other chilled bowl, cover with cling film, and put in your refrigerator to chill for at least two hours or until mousse is set.

For the port chocolate sauce

In a bain-marie, melt the chopped chocolate. Add the port, cream, and sugar, and stir until sugar is dissolved and the other ingredients are incorporated. If the chocolate seizes (loses its smooth consistency and starts to clump and separate — brilliantly explained here), add one to two tablespoons hot water, and the chocolate should again become smooth and syrupy. Serve chocolate with mousse, garnishing with additional fresh raspberries if you wish.

Serves 6, or 4 very greedy people.