Individual Smoked-salmon And Avocado Mousses For Any Occasion

Total Time: 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 8 ounces cold-smoked salmon (the kind that comes very thinly sliced)
• 9 -10 ounces avocados, ripe (flesh only when weighed)
• 8 tablespoons cream cheese (salmon-flavoured preferred. i used 2/3 of a 230 g container, if you're metric)
• 1 teaspoon salt, preferably flaky sea salt
• 1 teaspoon tabasco sauce (or any hot sauce, to taste)
• 3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice (or 3 tablespoons lime juice)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons gelatin

Recipe

• 1 *** i use smoked-salmon flavoured cream cheese.
• 2 grease 6 small individual molds, or 1 larger one, and line with plastic wrap. make sure the wrap sticks out at the top, to have "handles" to get the finished mousses out in one piece.
• 3 line the molds with the smoked salmon slices, overlapping where necessary, or patching, so that there are no "holes" in your lining! don't cut off any bits -- they will be folded over the filling.
• 4 mash the avocado in a bowl, add the cream cheese, salt and hot sauce, and mix well.
• 5 squeeze the lemon juice, measure into a small pot, sprinkle over the gelatine, and over medium heat stir this with the back of a spoon.
• 6 stir all the time until the gelatine granules dissolve and you have an almost gluey mixture. do not cook!
• 7 stir this into the avo and cream cheese mixture, and make sure you mix the gelatine in very well.
• 8 taste your mixture at this stage, and adjust seasoning to your taste.
• 9 fill each lined mold with the mixture, pressing in very lightly.
• 10 then use a knife blade and smooth the tops (which will be the bottom) from the centres outwards so they're even and flat, and the molds are filled edge-to-edge. fold any salmon "flaps" over the filling.
• 11 put on a tin or platter, cover with plastic, and leave in fridge to firm for 4 hours or overnight.
• 12 have a serving plate ready: to unmold, tug gently on the plastic overhang all around each mousse. can be served on shredded lettuce, or garnished with a whole large shrimp, parsley, or with a swirl of watercress sauce.