“Madame and monsieur shall have the dessert after all! Mousse au chocolat! Or as Minnie calls it, chocolate mouse.” - Guy Woodhouse
Halloween is upon us! This Food & Film post is about one of my absolute favorite movies that also just so happens to be a great one for Halloween: Rosemary’s Baby. Mia Farrow plays the adorable Rosemary Woodhouse. Rosemary dreams of the perfectly restored NYC apartment and three beautiful children with her dreamboat actor husband, Guy. Problem is, greedy Guy is much more concerned with professional success than Rosemary’s dreams. Enter nosy, geriatric neighbors, Minnie and Roman Castevet who want to do everything they can to get Guy his big acting break. All they want in return is to impregnate Rosemary with the devil’s child and take the baby after it’s born! Seems to be a great deal for everyone, except poor, naïve Rosemary…and anyone else who stands in the way.
Minnie Castevet may be a thorn in Rosemary’s side, but I just love her character. She is blunt, overly made up and completely unapologetic. When Guy (seemingly) comes around and decides that he is ready to have a baby, he and Rosemary plan a romantic night in with a fire, fancy dinner and wine. The only thing missing is dessert. Enter Minnie! Minnie prepares and delivers to Guy a chocolate mousse which she calls “Chocolate Mouse”. It’s spiked with a lil something extra to ensure that our heroine, Rosemary, is knocked unconscious. How neighborly.
“As long as she ate the mouse she can’t see nor hear, now sing!”
Seeing as how basically all Rosemary eats after she gets pregnant is raw meat, I thought it would be more fun to feature a chocolate pudding in the style of Minnie Castevete. Only this chocolate goodness won’t have any kind of “chalky under-taste”.
There are so, so many vegan chocolate pudding and/or chocolate mousse recipes out there but the following recipe is the only one I have made or ever plan to make. It’s just perfect! It comes from Jo Stepaniak’s amazing cookbook Vegan Vittles (one of my faves). It’s ridiculously easy and tastes just like the traditional chocolate pudding I enjoyed as a kid, only richer, more decadent and free of animal junk.
The only minor change I make to this recipe is that I add a splash of non-dairy milk to the ingredients before I blend them. I find this helps bring the consistency together and gives it a nice, glossy finish. I use only the 1/3 cup of sugar. I find it doesn’t need more.
Recipe from Vegan Vittles: Second Helpings (Summertown, TN: Book Publishing Company, 2007) © Jo Stepaniak. Reprinted by permission of the author.
The World’s Best (and Easiest) Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients:
1 package (about 12 ounces) firm silken tofu, crumbled
1/3 – 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Tiny pinch of salt (optional)
Equipment:
Food processor or blender
Procedure:
1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender, and process until very smooth, creamy and thick. Start with the smaller amount of sugar and add more to taste.
2. Chill thoroughly before serving.
3. Build a fire, toast your honey and enjoy this “Chocolate Mouse” while watching Rosemary’s Baby. You can take comfort in the fact that despite their faults, your significant other probably wouldn't exchange your first born for an acting career…I hope.
For the raw foodist crowd, a raw mousse can be made with avocados, cacao nibs, and agave syrup!
ReplyDelete