White chocolate mousse tart

I look forward to the weekend when you get the door-stopper version of the paper and my favourite bit are the supplement magazines. They are a great source of food inspiration for me. On the other hand some of their food articles can also cause me great annoyance. Thing is I am quite naive when it comes to health, I will believe in what the professionals say and the papers and magazines have all sorts of professionals giving a whole lot of conflicting information. It’s all too much for my fickle mind.

This revolt started when I read about the owner of the hottest new green juice bar in London in one magazine and then in the next there were big, fat quotes by Tracy Anderson saying that juicing vegetables get rid of all the nutrients and fibre. Last week carbs were bad, this week sugar is the devil and I am reading about this lady with a complete sugar-free diet. Completely free. I don’t know what I admire the most, her motivation or her ability to find the strangest spreads for her rice cakes.

I know they are not telling you to do anything but I feel that we’ve become a little too obsessed with what we are eating and not actually enjoying food anymore. And you can say “each to their own”, if she wants to live without sugar that’s up to her, blah blah blah, but I can’t help but think that these people are showing me up and that my diet is in fact terrible and my motivation appalling. All I think about when I read these articles is 1) how can they be bothered? and 2) how can they afford it?, because let’s be honest kale chips and almond butter are not cheap. 

I’ve tried the green juice thing and it did not do anything for me. I would rather add a spinach to my salad, or even better, have eggs Florentine. No almond butter beats that and I don’t care how energetic it makes one feel nothing brings me such joy as eating my favourite food.

I’ve tried so many restrictive diets: Dukan, Atkins, Juice, 5:2 and not only it never works but it also makes me feel miserable because all I can think about are chocolate and biscuits, so Everything in Moderation became my motto. Yes I do believe that food affects your mood and your health but I also believe nothing can get me out of bed as quickly as a Danish pastry and a strong coffee, then I make a deal with myself that I will have salad for lunch and run an extra mile. And I’m happy.

So if you are like me you’re feeling overwhelmed by all these mixed messages about diets just remember to compromise: after you have one of these buttery, decadent tarts have a salad for lunch, but never deprive yourself of a good white chocolate tart.

Lemon and white chocolate mousse tart (yields 4)

300g shortbread (I made a batch of these)

100g melted butter

125g white chocolate

3 eggs

40g caster sugar

200ml double cream

Zest of 2 lemons

Handful of red berries (I used frozen)

Icing sugar to dust

Method:

I used 4x small loose bottom tins (12cm diameter)

1. First prepare the base. Reduce the shortbread to crumbs in a blender. Mix the crumbs with the melted butter, press into the base and up the sides of the tins. Let it chill in the fridge.

2. for the mousse start by melting the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan over barely simmering water. Let it cool for 10 minutes.

3. Beat the yolks and sugar together with an electric whisk for a good 5 minutes until the mixture has become almost white and mousse like. Then beat the double cream in a separate bowl until firm.

4. Wash the whisk well and beat the whites until stiff but not dry. Using a large metal spoon fold the cream into the yolk mixture, followed by the chocolate and lemon zest. Finally fold in the egg whites.

5. Spoon mixture into the prepared tins and chill for 4 hours or overnight. Top with the berries and more lemon zest. Dust with icing sugar before serving.