Raspberries

Today I picked the first raspberries of the season. They are a little early and today there were only a handfull ripe, but tomorrow? I love raspberries, we had a lot last year and tonight I realized that there were still some in the freezer from last year frozen!
Each year my raspberry rows increase, I sacrifice a little more of the property to extend the rows. This year, I know we will have enough to make jam as well as freezing them for the winter and eating them fresh through the season and for the many desserts we research here in La Sechere.
I have the raspberries under netting to protect them from the birds. We have crafty flocks of starlings lurking, waiting to strip the plants. There are merles and
magpies, little queu rouge, mesonge and other little seemingly adorable and innocent birds just hanging out, waiting for an opportunity.
I work all year for this. I cut the old canes that bore fruit when they are done and select the strongest three from each plant for the next year. When I cut the lawn, the grass clippings go between the rows and around each plant. I turn the earth over with the clippings. During the winter, I empty the fireplace ashes onto the earth around the plants. In the early spring I turn it all over again. I fertilize the plants and carefully tie then to the wires. Then the magic begins.
So, I still have raspberries from last year and they cannot go to waste!
I am going to make a dessert that I dreamt up. It had to be made. I invented this last year and perfected it in the research test kitchen at La Sechere....It is so simple!

White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Coulis

Refrigerate 30 cl of whipping cream.
Melt 300 grams of very good white chocolate, when it is barely all melted, take it off the heat and whip in another 30 cl of whipping cream until it iis all well homogenized.
Take the 30 cl of cream in the refrigerator and whip until it is stiff.
This is the tricky part:
Carefully fold the whipped cream and the chocolate/cream mixture together. Use a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon and do it gently so as to not lose too much of the whipped creams stiffness.
When they are mixed together, refrigerate for a few hours. It should be set light and firm.
Take either fresh raspberries and crush them and add some sugar to taste and lemon juice, or you could just use fresh raspberries. If you use frozen, taste them and add sugar or not.
Serve the mousse with a helping of raspberries artfully drizzled or sprinkled and Voila.

That's it
The La Sechere Dessert Research Testing Facility