Bavarois à la Fraise (Strawberry Bavarian Cream with Strawberry Coulis)

I loved the Bavarian cream so much, I made it again. This time with local strawberries picked fresh that morning. Plus I made it on TV! Here's the link to my segment on "daytime Ottawa" on Rogers.

Doing a segment on television was definitely out of my comfort zone, and I worried excessively, even compulsively about doing it. But, it's good experience and how can you say no? The hosts, TL and Derick, made me feel very comfortable and had lots of questions to keep things moving and cover up any "ums" and "ahs" that were about to escape my mouth.

{I promise to catch up on my Whisk Wednesday posts as soon as I can. It's been an exciting, but busy month!}

Recipe

adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home

Serves 6

For the Coulis:
1½ cups strawberries
½ cup confectioner's sugar
Juice of ½ lemon, strained

For the Crème Anglaise:
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean (or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)
3 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
4 tablespoons strawberry coulis

For the Gelatin:
¼ ounce powdered gelatin (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons cold water

For the Whipped Cream:
1¾ cups heavy cream, whipped
For the coulis, wash and hull the strawberries. Purée in a food processor and then strain the seeds out using a fine-mesh strainer. Stir in the confectioner's sugar and lemon juice. Taste and adjust sweetness.

For the crème anglaise, heat milk and scraped vanilla bean in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil. Remove immediately from the heat and let steep for about 10 minutes. Remove the vanilla pod.

Meanwhile, whisk the yolks and sugar until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is a pale yellow color, about 2 minutes. Continue whisking and slowly drizzle in a bit of the hot milk mixture to temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Keep whisking and slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture.

Return the mixture to the heat and stir constantly until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon (about 5-7 minutes). Stir in the strawberry coulis.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and stir until softened. Let stand about 5 minutes. Then, stir the gelatin into the crème anglaise mixture and blend until the gelatin disappears into the mixture. Chill in the refrigerator until the mixture just starts to gel.

In a cold mixing bowl, whip the cream.

When the crème anglaise and gelatin mixture just starts to set, fold in the whipped cream. Pour the Bavarian cream into molds and chill completely for at least 3 hours or overnight.

To unmold, dip the mold in hot water for about 10 seconds. Then invert onto a serving platter. If needed, slide a knife around the edge. Serve the strawberry coulis on the side.

"Focus more on your desire than on your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself. You may be surprised at how easily this happens. Your doubts are not as powerful as your desires, unless you make them so."
— Marcia Weider

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