Light ricotta cheesecake

You've probably seen ricotta cheese used in pancakes to give them a light, fluffy texture but did you know it could be used in cheesecakes with similar effect? Cheesecake is normally about as far from light and fluffy as you can get, but trust me this cheese cake is much lighter but every bit as delicious as it's richer denser counterparts.

Unlike most cheesecakes this one has no biscuit or cake base, the cheese mixture is poured straight into the tin to be baked.

The recipe is adapted from one of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's, he used home made goats curd cheese for his version. As I don't have any goats of my own and I couldn't get any goats curd cheese in the shops I used ricotta which made the perfect substitute.

The finished cheesecake was creamy and light with a subtle lemony flavour in the background, a raspberry sauce made the perfect accompaniment.

The original recipe can be found here. The recipe below contains my adaptations.

Ricotta Cheesecake

Ingredients

•750g Ricotta cheese
•45g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
•3 tablespoons medium oatmeal
•a good pinch of salt
•75g caster sugar
•2 eggs, lightly beaten
•Grated zest of 2 small lemons, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice

For the raspberry sauce
•250g raspberries
•75g caster sugar
•A tablespoon of water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170C/gas 3 and butter a 20-23cm springform cake tin.

Beat the cheese with a wooden spoon until smooth, then add the melted butter, oatmeal, salt, sugar, eggs and lemon zest and juice. Mix well. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for about 25 minutes, until just set.

For the sauce put all the raspberries into a saucepan with a tablespoon of water and the sugar, bring to a simmer and cook for a couple of minutes. You can serve it as it is or pass the raspberries through a sieve for a more refined sauce.

Serve the cheesecake hot, warm or at room temperature with the raspberry sauce and cream if you like.

Baked onions with Camembert and thyme

Onions are one of the most useful and versatile of all vegetables, they form the base of so many recipes and are an essential ingredient in most kitchens. What you might not have realised is that onions are really good as a vegetable in their own right. When baked onions become soft and tender, they release their natural sweetness and are transformed into something that's just plain delicious!For this dish I roasted onions with white wine and thyme until they were incredibly soft almost melting in texture. The finishing touch -and what made these really good- was a piece of Camembert cheese which I stuffed inside each onion and left until it was oozy and melting. Trust me when I say this was really good!Baked onions would make a perfect side dish to go with roast pork, chicken or anything else really!Recipe: (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 12 small onions
• White wine, 1 glass
• Dried thyme or fresh if you have it
• Sea salt
• Olive oil
• Camembert cheese chopped into cubes (You could use any other cheese that melts easily)

Method:

• Peel the onions, trim the roots but lave the base intact and cut in quarters almost to the bottom but not right through.
• Pack the onions into a baking dish -it should be a tight fit- Pour over the white wine, sprinkle with the thyme and sea salt and drizzle with olive oil.
• Cover with tin foil and bake at around gas 4/350f/180c for 60-90 minutes, until the onions are very soft and tender
• Finally push a piece of Camembert inside each onion and return to the oven for a minute until the cheese has melted.
• Serve.

Creamy Mango Cheesecake

I know I haven't been blogging that much recently, Christmas and new year has been busy with not much time to cook or do anything with my blog really, so if you left comments and I haven't replied I wasn't ignoring you I promise! things are getting back to normal now though and today I had time to do some baking.

I've mentioned before that I get a box of organic fruit and vegetables delivered every two weeks, during the winter when fresh fruit is a bit scarce they often send imported tropical fruit. This week we had two beautiful fresh mangos which I thought would make a great cheesecake. And they did!I chose to make a baked cheesecake rather than no-bake version, mainly because I wanted to cook the fruit within the cake, I served it with a simple sauce made by blending sugar and mango together. The result was a dense rich cheesecake that was perfectly contrasted by the fresh mango and tasted great!

For whatever reason it cracked as it cooled, I think I probably cooled it too fast, next time I'll turn off the oven and leave it there to cool gradually.
Recipe Ingredients

• 175g/6oz digestive biscuits(If you can't get digestives another plain sweet biscuit would work, try shortbread)
  
• 50g/2oz butter , melted
• 600g/21oz cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia)
  
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 175g/6oz white sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 150ml/1/4 pint Sour cream
• 1 Mango peeled, stoned and diced

Method

• Preheat your oven to 350f/180c/gas4.
• Place the biscuits in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin into fine crumbs, mix with the melted butter and press the mixture into the base of a 20cm springform tin. Bake the base for 5 minutes.
• Beat all the remaining ingredients except the mango together with a whisk until smooth.
• Add the diced mango to the cheese mixture and pour over the biscuit base, bake for 40-50 minutes. It should be just slightly wobbly in the centre when it's cooked.
• Leave to cool completely in the tin then serve.
  

Speedy Spaghetti Carbonara

When I've been out all day and come home tired and hungry I turn to Carbonara to satisfy the hunger pangs. Why? because it's incredibly quick and absolutely delicious, I've yet to find a single person who doesn't enjoy a good Carbonara. This simple meal of bacon, eggs, Parmesan and pasta is universally popular and the great thing is I almost always have all the ingredients at home, so there's no need to go shopping.English and American versions often add cream, Italians don't and as it's their invention I do it there way, although I can't deny the creamy version does taste good too. I've also added some courgette to mine 1. because it was lurking in the fridge and needed using and 2. because I don't like having no vegetables at all in a meal.
I learnt the trick to making a decent carbonara sauce from watching Jamie Oliver. It is important to take the pasta off the heat before adding the eggs, this prevents them from scrambling and gives you a silky smooth sauce. The other important thing to remember is to add freshly ground black pepper, lots and lots of it, this dish needs it!

Courgette carbonara recipe
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 400g spaghetti or other pasta
• 250g bacon chopped
  
• 2 courgettes chopped
  
• 4 eggs lightly beaten
  
• Large handful of parmesan grated
• Finely chopped parsley (optional)
• Salt and pepper

Method

• Put your pasta on to boil.
• While the pasta is cooking fry your bacon and courgettes in a large pan.
• Once your pasta is cooked remove from the heat and toss in the beaten eggs, work quickly and make sure all the pasta is coated.
• Add the remaining ingredients reserving a little parmesan and mix well.
• Serve with a sprinkling of the reserved parmesan.
  

Gooey cheese and cranberry turkey burgers

Last week I decided to finally clear out our cupboard of sauces and pickles. We have everything in there from mustard in a variety of different types to ketchup and curry sauce, the problem was it was so full opening the door meant running the risk of serious injury as bottles and jar come pouring out! wearing some kind of hard hat would have been advisable.
So I cleared some space on top of the freezer and put a load of stuff there. During my clearings (if that's a real word) I made some interesting finds, one of them was shocking, a jar of enchilada sauce with a best before date of 1995! I couldn't believe it (no I didn't eat it!). One thing I did find of use however was a jar of cranberry sauce, I had some turkey mince in the fridge and I had an idea for cranberry and turkey burgers made by mixing the two. Apart from the classic combination of cranberry and turkey, I love cranberry sauce with brie (makes a great sandwich), and so the plan was to make turkey cranberry burgers with a piece of brie in the middle. The idea being that it would melt out as a gooey cheesy centre when you bit into it (I love melted cheese!).
The burgers were really delicious and I am definitely making these again. Turkey burgers have a reputation for being dry and tasteless but these were delicious and juicy, I think the cheese helped to stop them drying out and the cranberry gave a good flavour. I served them with a broad bean salad with roasted peppers and onions and also some potato wedges, I served a sauce made by mixing Thai sweet chilli sauce and mayonnaise.
I am thinking of trying an Italian version next with sundried tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. Sounds good to me!

At last I made a Cheese Souffle!

There are some recipes that scare me, usually they are recipes that seem far too complicated, or I have heard horror stories of it all going horrendously wrong. One such recipe was Choux pastry, even though I really wanted to try it, I could see myself making a complete mess and throwing it all in the bin!! But I overcame that and found it to be really easy.
Another recipe that has me shaking with fear is Souffle, I can just see it collapsing the second I open the oven door, or simply not rising at all.
Well after thinking "I really should try it" for over a year I finally got the courage to give it a go. The recipe I used is by Keith Floyd for a cheese Souffle, I served it with Jersey Royal potatoes and a salad.Contrary to popular belief souffle is very simple to make, it comprises a simple bechamel sauce into which egg yolks and the flavour of choice is added, to this fold in stiffly beaten egg whites and bake in the oven. For a sweet souffle it is exactly the same except a sweet custard base is used.
I am pleased to report that my souffle was a success, while it didn't rise quite as much as I hoped, it did rise and tasted really good, next time I might add chopped bacon and some leeks or mushrooms for more flavour. This makes an excellent light summer meal.

The recipe can be found here: Cheese souffle
Note: it is crucial that you eat this as soon as it is cooked as it starts to collapse immediately!