Strawberry Mousse with White Chocolate

Clean and hull the strawberries. Starting with about half of the strawberries (3/4 pound), quarter them and purée them in either a blender or food processor.

Press the purée mixture through a mesh sieve with the back of a spoon into a bowl. You want to end up with 1 cup of purée.

Stir in 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and set aside.

With the remaining 3/4 pound or so of berries, slice as many as will fill up 2 cups, and set aside.

Melt white chocolate in a double boiler, or a stainless steel bowl set over simmering water (make sure the simmering water doesn't actually touch the bottom of the bowl.)

Stir until smooth, set aside.

Put 1/4 cup of cold water into a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin powder over the water and let sit for 5 minutes.

Put 1/4 cup of the cream into a small saucepan on medium heat. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of the powdered sugar and bring to a simmer. Stir in the water-gelatin mixture until dissolved.

Pour this mixture into the bowl with the melted white chocolate and whisk until smooth.

Reserve the remaining 1/4 cup.

Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the remaining 1 3/4 cup of cream on medium-high speed until medium peaks form. (It helps if your cream is very cold.)

Stir a third of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.

Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the remaining whipped cream into the mixture.

Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Stir the remaining 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into the reserved sliced berries. Fold the sliced berries into the mousse.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least another hour, preferably several hours, or even overnight (cover with plastic wrap).

When you are ready to serve the mousse, pour a dollop of the reserved strawberry purée onto each serving. Add a few slices of strawberries as garnish.