Smoked Trout Mousse

I'm really enjoying my buffet class at grossmont college, every Monday we get together, the chef brings a bunch of food, and we cook it into whatever theme we have for the day. Last week was hors d'oevres, and I adapted the rosemary crackers I'm so fond of into a little canape with a smear of goat cheese topped with some roasted veggies and shallots. This week was mousses. That sounded most unappetizing until I realised we were able to try our hand at smoking, and we didnt have to make wobbly jelly mousses, we could omit gelatin for a softer, lighter mousse.

Steve and I chose to make smoked trout mousse. It was my first time smoking anything, but we set about with it, steve expertly removing the bones, head and fins from the fish, and I made a rudimentary smoker by getting a deep pan, placing wood chips in the bottom and a cake cooler (poor pastry class!) over them. The fillets were seasoned with pepper and old bay, then hot smoked for about 10 minutes and it was deliciously tender with a subtle smoky flavor. It was then blended with some lemon juice, herbs, mayonnaise and a little wine. Whipped cream was folded in and the resulting mousse was piped into little pastry baskets.

Heres a recipe, quantities can be adjusted a little for taste.

Smoked Trout Mousse

13oz smoked trout cooked with old bay seasoning, careful to remove bones

3 oz mayonnaise

1 oz white wine

2 oz lemon juice

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tbsp chopped chives

salt and pepper to taste

3 oz heavy cream

Combine everything except the cream and blend with a hand blender until smooth, this took at least 5 mins, longer than you'd think!

Chill for 30 mins or longer if you have time.

Whip cream until it has soft peaks. Fold in trout mixture carefully and chill for a further 30 mins

Pipe into baskets or onto crackers.