Baked Vanilla Cheesecake with Strawberries & Pistachio

Happy Easter! As with the idea of Easter, I pray for peace and respect among mankind. Seems difficult to attain with the ever growing greed for power, status and unrests all over the world these days. But I believe if one does good, a chain effect always ensues. Although my kids don't really grasp the real meaning of Easter yet besides the bunny and eggs, it is a sure way to talk to them about religions, hopes and teachings.

As with every Easter, we have potluck gathering with our friends, followed by the Easter egg hunt. Dampened with rain this year, the eggs were hidden in the basement! Anyway, it was fun. For the dessert, I made this cheesecake. I have lost count on how many cheesecakes I have made this year but each and every one that I made deserved mention and a part in this blog! I just love these group of cakes,whatever you throw in with the cheese mixture, baked or chilled..... it just gets cheesier everytime (in the yummy sense)!

I used Ricotta cheese for this one. The texture was not as smooth and velvety as in using cream cheese, but equally hefty and lovely in taste. It has a more curd like texture and bite and for people who doesn't really go for the stronger smell of cheese, Ricotta is the best substitute. Heavy cream was added for the in-depth flavor. Strawberries and pistahio nuts are the decorative accents on the top while the main flavor of the cake itself is Vanilla. I put it 2 tbsp of Vanilla paste and a few drops of lime juice. I used less sugar for this cheesecake but this can always be sweetened more with powdered sugar sprinkled on top just before serving.

Recipe

Ingredients

Bottom Crust

15 pieces of Honey Graham crackers, crushed to crumbs

100g Melted Butter

Cheesecake

475g Skimmed Ricotta cheese

200ml Heavy Cream

3 eggs, large

100g Regular sugar (for sweeter cake , use 150g or more)

2 tbsp vanilla Paste

2 tbsp Lime juice

8 to 10 strawberries, hulled and sliced, fanned out

60g Pistachio nuts, chopped roughly

2 tbsp Strawberry jam

Method

Bottom Crust

1. Mix the honey graham crackers crumbs with the melted butter.

2. Pat the crumbs into an 8 inch springform round cake pan. Set aside.

Cheesecake

1. Heat the oven to 350F.

2. Beat the egg with the sugar till it is not grainy anymore.

3. Add in the Heavy cream and beat for 30 seconds.

4. Spoon in the Ricotta cheese, Vanilla paste and Lime juice and fold in to combine thoroughly with the egg & cream mixture. Pour the batter onto the base crust inside the springform pan.

5. Bake for 45 to 50 mins. The cake is done when it is set. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool completely inside the oven for 1 hour.

6. Remove and garnish with the strawberry slices. Heat the strawberry jam and brush as glaze onto the strawberries slices . Sprinkle with the Pistachio nuts. Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight before serving.

7. If not sweet enough,sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.

Serves : 8

Grape Tomatoes with Asparagus Tart

I am  on the Tart mode now, which is anyway suitable for the spring and summer weather like cooking. I don't have alot of ideas baking nor cooking with vegetables and the same is for seafood. But I believe some ingredients are best lightly cooked on their own with the least seasonings and preparation and they themselves simply shine through in taste in their natural and wholesome goodness. I love baby tomatoes and they come in alot of varieties these days and very colorful too. These Grape tomatoes, which are aptly named for their grape shape is very juicy and sweeter in taste than the cherry tomatoes. Infact I even think they can be used in sweet desserts and sweet tarts, maybe I shall keep that idea for next time. There was some left over tart dough from my previous baking of the Peach Hazelnut Frangipane Tart and using the same 6 inches tart ring, I used up the tart dough. I like this tart dough recipe as it didn't need any prior or separate baking from the filling and we all know how we hate to line the tart with parchment paper and baking beans! It just saves up so much time to be able to do all baking at one go and less mess too.

For the filling, I simply made up a combination of egg, heavy cream and fat free Ricotta Cheese. It turned out very soft custard like and if you prefer a quiche like filling which is more solid and firm, just add some all purpose flour to thicken it. I have left overs of almost everything in the fridge despite getting the smallest tub or package of everything. That is the dilemma trying to lose weight and at the same time I cannot give up baking or eating. I can go restless if I don't see any butter left in the fridge, knowing that I always want to make a cake. And with a little bit of Ricotta cheese left here, a bit of Heavy Cream there, I just had to incorporate them in this recipe. Yes..... I can be very experimental at times.

Recipe

Ingredients

Tart Dough (ingredients & method)

see here for the Tart Dough Recipe (if making a 6 inch tart, you will only need 300g of the dough,  the rest can be frozen and thawed later for further use)

Filling

100g Tender Asparagus (about 15 to 18 stalks)

150g Grape Tomatoes (about 10)

1 Large egg

125ml Heavy Cream

75g low fat Ricotta Cheese

1/2 tsp All Purpose Flour (optional for firmer custard)

Salt & Pepper

Method

1. Clean the asparagus, remove tough bottom side and cut the spears into half.Cut the grape tomatoes across with 2 to 3 slices from each.

2. Prepare the tart dough, roll out and line the dough in a 6 inch tart ring/pan. Alternatively use an 8 inch if you like. Always grease the tart ring/pan. Preheat oven to 375F.

3. Beat the egg with the heavy cream and ricotta cheese till well mixed. Season with salt & pepper. Add in the flour if you are using.

4. Arrange the Asparagus and Cut tomatoes inside the tart pan. Slowly pour in the egg & cream content. Do not overflow.

5. Bake for 40 mins.The filling will set nicely.

6. If the edge of the tart is browing too fast, turn down the oven to 350F and complete the baking. Once done, turn off oven and let the tart sit in the warm oven for a further 10 mins. This will set up the filling.

7. Serve warm

Serves: for 6 inch (4 person)/ for 8 inch (6 person)

Jelly Fish With Thai Basil

Andrew Zimmern's new Season of his Round the World Bizarre Food eating just got better! I think he has almost covered all the bizarre items and ingredients in most cultures and I find it most exciting everytime he goes to Asia. I laughed when he couldn't take Durians, the 1000 year old fermented egg and of all things, Walnut pastries! Those I find it Nothing compared to his more outrageous takes on Balut, the duck egg complete with underdeveloped embryo complete with baby feathers, the pounding heart of a frog and raw meat. Before his show started, most of the Western world find this idea of eating outside their conventional food and cooking simply abhorrent. There are plenty of food and travel shows on TV and most have not much substance nor interesting enough and in my opinion both Andrew Zimmern and Tony Bourdain have really revolutionized the idea of food and travel in the American people.

I am on the mild side about tasting bizarre food types. As long as they are cooked properly and without any heads attached, not bloody and not nightmarish looking, I can eat it. I can take very strong smell and now even very spicy if I dare. There are a few ingredients in the Chinese cooking that uses some unconventional ingredients and I would like to attempt all of them one day.

Jelly fish cooked into a salad and appetizer is ubiquitous in China, Japan and Korea. Mostly served together with other types of appetizer in larger plates or as a side dish, jelly fish is simply mixed with some dressing and garnished with toasted sesame seeds and sometimes even dressed with creamy dressing like mayo and mustard and most of the time served cold. The texture is both crunchy and slimy and by itself presents no taste at all except the briny sea smell. It is advisable to cook the jelly fish prior to preparing it with the dressing since it is highly preserved in salt and has a long shelf life. They come in small packages of a big slice of the jelly fish body or readily shredded slices. For the one piece kind, although they might look hefty in their packaging, they are not alot and buying more than 1 packet at a time is recommended. I bought one packet that weighed almost 400g but after soaking, washing and shredding, it only yielded about 2 cups worth of jelly fish and I can easily finish it on my own! Just increase the other ingredients proportionately with the quantity of the jelly fish.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 pack of Jelly Fish (preserved), about 400g.

1 red Shallot, sliced

6 Thai Basil leaves, julienned

75ml Rice Vinegar

1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

1/2 tsp Sugar

1 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce

pinch of salt

1/2 tbsp white sesame Seeds, toasted

Method

1. Remove the jelly fish from the package and wash under running water a few times. Cut and shred into thin slices with a knife.

2. Soak the shreds in a bowl of water for 2 hours, changing the water every 30 mins.

3. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Put in the jelly fish and let it cook for about 7 mins.

4. Remove and drain in a colander.

5. Heat the Rice Vinegar & Sugar in a sauce pan. When comes to a rolling boil, add in the sliced shallot and julienned Thai Basil. Stir for 1 min.

6. Add in the Soy Sauce and Sesame oil. Stir to rolling boil for 2 mins.

7. Place the jelly fish in a glass container or bowl. Pour the rice vinegar mixture into the container and using a chopstick, mix in thoroughly into the jelly fish. Mix for about 1 min. Taste, if needed sprinkle in some salt.

8. Let the contents chill in the fridge for more than 2 hours.

9. When ready to serve, plate up and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Serves: 2 person as small appetizer

Peach Hazelnut Frangipane Tart

April Fool's day for all in New England. It snowed! After 2 weeks straight of brilliant cool mornings warming up to lovely afternoons, and shovels and winter boots are all stashed away, the white flakes fell overnight and schools were cancelled. Spring time was kept at bay while old man winter ruled the day. Mother Nature's prank was sure a talk of the town. To make things better I set my mind to believe that weekend started early despite my 2 kids driving me nuts with their under used energy inside the house. They are now at that age where bickering, screaming and shouting at each other seems to be the only way to communicate and bond.  Within minutes they are buddies again and before I know it, an hour passed and the whole ball starts rolling again about a toy, a chair or whatever they think worth of their loud voices.

I got some new Tart rings and wanted to test use them. My all time favorite to make is Tarts. Whether it is small, big, sweet or savory, there is just something about tart that appeals to me. With the warm buttery smell of the tart case and the lovely creamy filling of pastry cream or quiche like custard baked into the tart itself, cutting a slice to eat is just heaven. There are many variations of tart crusts and I am yet to attempt it all. And talking about tart tins and pans, I have all fluted shapes and different sizes too. I have been wanting to get these tart rings for a while now and finally I got 2, one measuring 6 inches and the other 9 inches. I was a bit unsure on how to use the rings as they have no bottom part to hold the pastry dough and their sides which is less than 2 inches made me skeptical. I just have to practise a few more times to get it perfect. For a first, I made up this Frangipane Tart using Hazelnut instead of the usual Almond nut for the filling. If possible get the ready roasted and cleaned ones to save time. Hazelnut is very unique in taste with a subtle floral aroma to it, which is light in the palate.

Recipe

Ingredients

Tart Pastry Dough

300g All Purpose Flour

150g Cold Butter, cut to cubes

1 Tbsp Sugar

1/4 Tsp salt

1 large egg

3 Tbsp Cold Water

Method

1. Sift the flour together with the sugar & salt. Place them in the food processor.

2. Drop in the butter cubes, process for 10 seconds. Do not overmix.

3. Lightly beat the egg and pour into the flour & butter mixture. Process for another 10 seconds. Do not overmix.

4. Add in the cold water and process for 10 seconds. As soon as the dough comes together in a clump, it is ready. Take out and pat into a disk and cover with plastic wrap, put in fridge to rest for 1 hour.

5. Grease a 6 inch or 8 inch tart ring or pan. Set aside.

Hazelnut Frangipane Filling

100g Roasted Hazelnut, cleaned

50g Sugar

1-1/2 Tbsp Cornstarch

1 egg

40g Butter, Room Temperature

300g  Canned peaches, remain as wedges

1 Tbsp Sugar

Method

1. Put the Hazelnut into the food processor together with the sugar and cornstarch. Process together till the hazelnut is cut into mealy state.  About 10 seconds.

2. Lightly beat the egg and put into the hazelnut mixture and add in the butter. Process to mix for 20 seconds till it turns creamy.

3. Preheat oven to 350F.

To Assemble The Tart

1. Take out the tart pastry dough. Roll it out to a large circle. Lift it up and line the tart ring or pan. If using tart ring, the bottom of the lining pan that holds the tart ring must be greased too.

2. Always leave excess overhanging the tart ring/pan as the dough will shrink during baking.

3. When ready, spoon the hazelnut cream mixture into the tart dough, spreading evenly with the back of a spoon or spatula.

4. Arrange the peach slices around and gently pushing to the bottom into the hazelnut cream. Do not bury the peaches but leave some showing for better presentation. Sprinkle sugar on top of the peaches once all are arranged.

5. Bake the tart for 40 to 45 mins. The filling will brown and set.

6. If still soft to the touch, turn off oven after time is up and let the tart sit in the warm oven for another 10 mins.

7. Remove and serve warm.

Serves: 4 to 6 person