Are you looking for a festive entree? Then this delicious festive smoked ham mousse has all the cards. It is easy to make and you can prepare it in advance. So not too much work in the kitchen when your guests are there. Moreover, it is wonderfully fluffy and tasty. So you should have made up your mind already.

How to make this festive smoked ham mousse?

As mentioned, this delicious, light ham mousse is really easy to make. You can (and should) even make the mousse itself in advance. On the day itself, all that remains is to finish it in glasses, or on a piece of toast if you serve the festive smoked ham mousse as an appetizer.

Some preparatory cutting work

But we start as usual with some preparatory cutting work. Knowing that everything goes into the blender afterwards, you should not be too precise here. The blender will take over the real grinding afterwards.

We start with the smoked ham slices. We cut them into pieces of approximately two by two centimeters (one by one inch). Then they can go into the blender.

We then remove the skin from the shallot and garlic cloves. And we also finely chop them. Raw garlic does have a strong taste. If you don't like that, limit yourself to one garlic clove.

Finally, we take a sprig of rosemary and unzip the leaves from the stem. We chop them coarsely.

All ingredients, garlic, shallot and rosemary, go into the blender with the smoked ham.

Some more preparations

We soak the gelatin sheet in a bit of cold water. In the meantime, we warm the brandy very slightly over low heat, until lukewarm. Once the gelatin has soaked thoroughly, remove it from the water and wring it out. Then we dissolve the gelatin in the lukewarm brandy.

As an alternative to brandy, you can also use whisky or sherry. Depending on your taste and what you have at home. Stay away from the sweeter alcoholic drinks, because too much sweetness conflicts with the savory mousse.

We also whip the whipped cream in advance until stiff. Make sure you have cream with a fat content of more than 30%. Otherwise the whipping will not work properly. And that is crucial to achieve the airy texture.

If you don't have mayonnaise at home, you can make it quickly in a few minutes time. The perfect and always successful recipe for this can be found in the article, Mahonaise, the origin of mayonnaise. And at the same time you will learn where our mayo actually comes from.

The making of the festive smoked ham mousse

Now that everything is ready, the blender can do its work. Grind the ingredients well. If necessary, stop briefly to loosen pieces that are stuck to the edge. This way we get a consistent finely ground smoked ham mass.

And now we're going to add moisture, flavor and fluffiness. First comes the brandy with the dissolved gelatin. Then the mayonnaise, homemade or not. Mix everything together very well.

Finally, the stiffly whipped cream follows. Fold it into the mousse with a spatula until everything is well mixed.

This end result can then be placed in the refrigerator for at least a few hours to fully set.

The finishing touches

This festive smoked ham mousse is typically served in wide glass bowls or ramekins. With glass you can clearly see what you are getting. I have also served it in a wine glass before. But small glasses have the disadvantage that it might be difficult to reach the bottom easily. Depending of course on the type of glass you use.

One option is to spoon the smoked ham mousse into the ramekins with a spoon. Or you can use a syringe and pipe the mousse into the dishes. That is of course more festive. But not everyone has the material for that. And if you have never worked with such a syringe, that of course is an additional stress factor. So in that case spooning in will also do.

And alone is just alone. So we're going to organize some festive company for the ham mousse. These are some really easy ideas. Anyone can easily cut a ball of mini Mozzarella in half. A lick of tomato pesto or tomato tapenade is also not insurmountable. Then some small basil leaves and an apple caper are still missing. These are those xl capers.

As an alternative to the apple capers, you can also use some smaller capers. Or why not some halved black olives? Their taste also fits very well.

Festive smoked ham mousse as an appetizer

You can also serve this festive smoked ham mousse as an appetizer. Then you simply pipe a dot onto a piece of Bruschetta chips. Preferably one with olives and dried tomatoes. But you can also just use a salt biscuit or a piece of cucumber. Add an olive on top if desired and you have a delicious appetizer.

And the leftovers?

Just in case. Most probably you will have no leftovers at all. But suppose we have. Then wouldn't that just be delicious on your sandwich the next morning?

More surprising.starter

I love to make the starters for a festive menu. So we have lots of inspiration on surprising.recipes. For that, also have a read of the following articles: