Chocolate Mousse with White Wine Pear

Ingredients

• 150 g dark chocolate couverture
• 10 ml cognac
• 50 ml strong espresso
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar
• 100 ml chilled whipping cream
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 4 ripe pears
• 4 Tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 50 ml orange juice
• 1 untreated orange (zest and juice)
• 1 pinch saffron strands

Instructions

1. 1.

   For the mousse, roughly chop the chocolate and melt it with cognac and espresso in a double boiler. Remove from heat and let cool. Separate the eggs; beat the yolks with vanilla sugar until fluffy, then fold in the cooled chocolate mixture. Whip the chilled cream to stiff peaks. Beat the egg whites with sugar into stiff meringue. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture, then gently fold in the meringue. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate covered for at least 3 hours.

2. 2.

   Peel the pears, leaving stems on, and immediately drizzle with lime juice. Dissolve sugar in about 50 ml water, add saffron, and simmer gently for 1–2 minutes. Add wine, orange juice, zest, and pears; cover and steam for about 10 minutes until pears are tender but intact, spooning the liquid over them occasionally. Let cool to lukewarm.

3. 3.

   To serve, arrange pears on a dessert plate, place a mound of chocolate mousse beside them, and drizzle with pear reduction.