Moulded Vegetable Mousse

This is adapted from The Herald Tribune Home Institute Cook Book, 1947 ed.

The original called for Roquefort, but I didn't have any. I didn't think it was worth wasting good Stilton on, so I er...repurposed some dull goat cheese Mr. ETB picked up at Aldi. He can't help himself. He never buys anything there he likes, yet he keeps trying. This was the kind of salad you'd use goat cheese from Aldi for.

I went ahead and added shredded carrots because I thought olives, celery, and a bell pepper sounded a bit thin on the five a day front.

The boys liked it.

Mr. ETB: This reminds me of something.

Me: Oh, I know...1974.


As it isn't actually 1974 I went ahead and skipped filling the centre with chopped apples in French dressing. The 70's were the 30 year cycle for wartime ration card food fads. I don't know if it was brought on by hours spent waiting to buy gas, inflation (bonus points if you remember what, WIN stood for), FM radio...but money saving recipes using every last bit of grass clippings in the veggie bin were everywhere. I seem to remember leftover boiled chicken showing up in meals long after anything good was cooked out of it for soup. I don't think that was how coronation chicken was supposed to be made. Actually, I don't think that was how anything was supposed to be made. Younger self? Why didn't you ever volunteer to take over kitchen duties? We could have all made it through the 60's and 70's with considerably less food stewed beyond recognition in V-8 juice.

Right, so the mousse. This is really simple (I swear, it is).

You Will Need:

1 tablespoon unflavoured gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 pound goat cheese (or Roquefort if you have it)
1 green pepper, finely minced
2 carrots, shredded finely, and squeezed dry
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
2 stalks celery with leaves, finely minced
1/4 cup sliced green olives with pimentos
1 cup heavy cream, whipped


Soften the gelatin in the cold water. In a large bowl, dissolve it in the boiling water. Add salt, whisk until dissolved and chill until gelatin begins to set. Meanwhile, mash the cheese and mix with the vegetables. Fold in the whipped cream, then fold all into the gelatin mixture. Pour into a rinsed ring mould and let chill several hours. That's it.