I love to have guests. There are people who it makes incredibly nervous, it makes me more relaxed. My guests are spoiled as much as possible and get great food. My favorite time of the day is to prepare the food. Sometimes, however, a very good wine and a fantastic cheese plate, olives and some sausage from good production is enough. Last week my closest friends visited. Here I share with you the recipe for the appetizer. There were Beluga lentils with thyme and pumpkin goat cream cheese mousse.
The trick is to have many components in the food that you can prepare ahead of time. After all, nobody invites guests to wait forever for food. Of course, as a host, you also want to have time for your guests. Separately cooking in the kitchen all the time while guests sit and wait should not be the goal. Therefore, I always think of dishes where I can prepare as much as possible and then only have to do a cook a few ingredients a la minute.
On the plate you will also find fermented pumpkin. Fermenting vegetables is easy. You can change it with a variety of spices, the taste is highlighted.
You can prepare the Pumpkin Goat Cream Cheese Mousse in the evening or in the morning before your dinner. The gelatin takes several hours in the fridge. You can even prepare the fermented pumpkin the week before. By fermenting, the natural taste of vegetables comes out and the resulting lactic acid bacteria also support your intestinal health. You can read more about probiotics and why they are so healthy in one of my articles.
For the fermentation of vegetables, you only need to add a 2% saline solution, that is 20 g salt to one liter of water. The water with the salt is heated on the stove in a pot until the salt has completely dissolved. Then let the salt solution cool well. The vegetables are cut into small pieces and placed in a sealable glass. In addition to pumpkin, radishes, carrots, fennel, zucchini and other vegetables that are not too soft are also suitable for fermentation.
The salt solution is poored over the vegetables in the glas, they must be completely covered. To make sure that the vegetables do not come up, I weigh them down with the smaller lid of another jar. Just turn the lid upside down, so that the surface lies on top of the vegetables and pushes them down as soon as the lid of the actual glass is put on.
Fermenting vegetables is a great way to preserve them. If you grow your own vegetables or buy them cheaply or have too much in the fridge, just make fermented vegetables.
The pumpkin goat cream cheese mousse is the perfect combination to the beluga lentils. I hope your guests will be as excited as mine.
Beluga Lentils with Pumpkin Goat Cheese Mousse
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Ingredients
What do you need for the Pumpkin Goat Cream Cheese Mousse?
- 18 ounce Pumpkin – I used Hokaido Pumpkin for my mousse.
- 8 ounce Goat Cream Cheese
- 0.7 cup Dry White Wine
- 1.7 cups Heavy Cream
- 2 leaves – Gelatin
- Nutmeg – For seasoning
- Sea Salt – For seasoning
- Pepper – For seasoning
What do you need for the Beluga Lentils?
- 5.3 ounce Beluga lentils
- 1.5 cup Vegetable Broth
- 3 tbsp Sherry Vinegar
- 1/2 cup Dry White Wine
- 4 branches Thyme – fresh
Instructions
How to prepare the Pumpkin Goat Cream Cheese Mousse?
- I find it easiest to prepare my pumpkin in the oven. For the recipe you need half of a middle size Hokaido pumpkin. Cut the pumpkin in half, take the seeds out.
- Preheat your oven to 340° Fahrenheit. Place the pumpkin on a baking sheet in the middle of your oven and roast it for 30 minutes.
- Let it cool and then scrape the pumpkin flesh out. You could use the skin as well, I just do not.
- Soak the gelatin in cold water.
- Heat the white wine, goat cream cheese and 1/3 cup of the cream in a pot and slowly heat it. Should not boil. Stir until the goat cream cheese is incorporated into the liquid.
- Squeeze the gelatin and put it in the pot. Stir until the gelatin dissolves.
- Mash your pumpkin with a fork and place with the white wine, gelatin mixture in a blender. On high mix until you have a creamy texture.
- Season with some nutmeg, sea salt and pepper.
- Beat the rest of the cream until it is stiff. Gently fold the cold gelatin pumpkin mixture under your cream.
- Place the mousse in your fridge for at least 5 hours, best over night.
How to prepare the Beluga Lentils?
- Place all ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil then reduce the temperature. After 20 minutes the lentils should be done.
- Let them cool down before serving or serve them chilled.
Notes
Best is to start the cooking of your Beluga lentils when your guests arrive. You want to serve them lukewarm. I pour some of the remaining liquid off, taste it once again with salt and pepper and possibly some vinegar. Serve Beluga lentils with the pumpkin goat cream cheese mousse. It goes well with fermented pumpkin, some Aceto vinegar or a green salad.