Julie and Julia's Chocolate Mousse Pie, (with a kid's help)

My 9 year old son and I watched Julie and Julia again last night.  He wants a blog and of course he can't have one..... yet.  Instead, I told him he could be a guest on my blog.  We decided to make Julie and Julia's Chocolate Cream Pie, using Julia Child's Chocolate Mousse.  In researching recipes for the mousse, I found that David Lebovitz~Saveur Magazine, has as close to hers as I can find.  Hey, the way I figure it, my son won't know the difference so why not go straight to the top when it comes to perfection!

For the crust over the years, I have used Gale Gand's recipe a a jumping off point that has been altered to fit my deep dish pie plate.  In a food processor pulse 1 Cup Pastry Flour, 1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour, 2 Tbl Sugar and 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt.   Cut 10 oz Cold Unsalted Butter into pieces and add it to the flour.  Pulse until is resembles small peas.  While pulsing, dizzle in water by the tablespoon using approximately 3-4 Tbl Ice Water until dough comes together.  Form into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for a few hours.

When ready to roll, remove from refrigerator and let rest for about 15 minutes until warm enough to roll.  In the meantime, preheat oven to 350.  Roll dough to about 1/8" using either a dusting of flour or between parchment paper.  Place dough over pie dish pressing into the corners and cut off excess dough.  Shape the edge of your crust to your liking.   Lightly prick the dough with a fork.  Bake for 25 -30 minutes until browned.
Now for the fun and delicious part!!  I made a simple change to this.  We didn't want to use coffee and rum so I used Frangelico instead.  You can google her original recipe but here is what I did.
This is made in 3 basic steps.  Organize how you will use your pot and bowls.

To a bowl that will fit into a pot to create a double boiler, add 6 oz Bittersweet Chocolate, 6 oz UnSalted Butter and 1/4 Cup Water.  Place over pot and heat the water enough to melt the mixture.  Remove from heat.


Separate 4 Large Eggs, the whites into a mixing bowl and the yolks into a bowl that will fit over a pot of water.  If you can use the same pot of water as the chocolate, then great, do it, but you can see I used 2 different sized bowls.  Over the simmering water, using a hand mixer, beat the 4 Egg Yolks with 2/3 Cups Sugar and 4 Tbl Frangelico.  It should be fairly thick almost like runny mayonnaise.  Remove from heat and place the yolk mixture bowl in an ice bath in order to cool the bowl and therefore yolk mixture.  Continue beating the mixture until is is cool.  This may take about 15 minutes.
Fold Chocolate mixture into the yolk mixture.
Beat Egg Whites until frothy.  Continue beating until they begin to hold their shape. Whip in 1 Tbl Sugar and beat until shiny and add 1 tsp Vanilla.
Fold 1/3 of the whites into the chocolate mixture.  Do this 2 more times.  Add mousse to the pie shell and refrigerate until set.  Serve with freshly whipped cream.  If you don't want to make a pie you can certainly serve this mousse in a nice glass cup.  C and I hope you enjoy!

Stuffed Shells

I haven't made these in a long time, in fact, I forgot I have made them in the past.  I like this recipe because it is prepared in 3 basic steps and can be done at once or in stages.  Mine are ready for the oven and took all of 40 minutes to get prepared.  I cooked and filled 24 shells, 12 for tonight and 12 to freeze for a few weeks from now.
For the pasta shells, boil a large pot of water over high heat.  Once it boils, add 1 tsp Salt and cook 24 Large Pasta Shells for about 12-15 minutes.  They need to be under done since they are being baked in the oven.
While water is boiling, slice 1/2 Large Onion very thinly and sautee in 1 Tbl Olive Oil for about 3  minutes until fragrant.  Add 1 lb Ground Beef and cook until just about done.  Add 4 Cups Marinara to the meat and onion.  I make my own marinara and the recipe is on this site or you can easily use a jar of your favorite.  Season the sauce with S&P to taste, Parsley, Oregano and Basil.  Let cook over low heat for for about 15 minutes.  While sauce is cooking make filling.
To a bowl add 15 oz Ricotta Cheese, 2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella, 1 Cup Parmesan, 2 Egg Yolks, 2 Pressed Garlic Cloves, S&P to taste, and 1 tsp Fresh Chopped Parsley.  If you want to add spinach to the filling I would chiffonade about 1 Cup of Clean Fresh Spinach and stir into filling.
Preheat Oven to 350F.  Drain pasta and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process.  Butter casserole dish and add 2 cups of sauce.  Fill shells with filling and bury them in the sauce without overlapping.  Top with additional sauce as desired.   Cover dish tightly with foil and bake for 25  minutes.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until bubbly.  Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.  In the meantime, warm bread in the oven.  Serve additional sauce on the side.  Great with a simple salad.