CHEF and blogger Paul James writes for our paper.
A great dessert for you this week and before you frown upon the ingredients please bare with me.
I was made aware of this competition by our very own journalist Tristan Harris, so I thought ‘why not?’.
An Italian based company is offering the winner a chance to visit Italy for the winning entry – a starter, a main and a dessert….simple.
Until I read further down in the competition’s itinerary…..every dish you’ve got to create has to include tomatoes.
I’m not suggesting for one moment I will stand a chance, but I decided to try a little play on the starter, instead of tomato and basil soup, what about a basil and tomato spicy Granita? Okay, not great for the British climate but great if you are in the heat of Italy.
Next up the main, polpette di papa with Orzo and Parmesan, what a romantic sounding dish that only the Italians can pull off. But, translated in English, it means ‘Daddy’s Meatballs’ .
So I thought I would give your frown a chance to work and come up with a dessert – ’Lemon Cheesecake with a tomato jelly topping’
Now even Peter Kay and his famous ‘cheesecake’ catchphrase would be left speechless with this one.
But, I promise you, with the sweetness of the tomatoes, combined with cream cheese, icing sugar and the flavours of sharp lemons, oh and Passata you will be blown away…..Trust me.
I’m even going to stick my neck out and say this is without a doubt the best cheesecake I’ve ever tasted…..and it’s mine.
Enjoy
Visit facebook.com/recipesfrommytravels for more on Paul’s recipes and his blog.
Paul has made it through to the semi-finals of the Mutti-Parma Cook 2022 competition. Click here to vote for him
Lemon Cheesecake with a tomato jelly topping
Ingredients
300g crushed Digestive biscuits
150g butter melted
650g cream cheese
100g icing sugar
400ml double cream
Lemon zest from1 lemon
The juice of 1 lemon
125ml lemon Cordial
1 sachet of Gelatine powder
1 jar of passata
Method
1. To make the biscuit base take the digestives and blitz them up into crumbs.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the biscuit mix into the pan.
3. Once it has been mixed thoroughly place the biscuit mixture into a cake tin and press down firmly and even.
4. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.
5. For the cheesecake filling
6. In a large bowl Mix the cream cheese and icing sugar with a whisk or wooden spoon until smooth.
7. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice.
8. Whisk again until all ingredients are blended together.
9. Then add the lemon cordial a bit at a time while still whisking.
10. Once the cordial has run out, pour in the double cream, continue to whisk slowly.
11. Add the cream cheese mixture. Continue to whisk until it is starting to thicken.
12. Once it’s thickened, spread onto the biscuit base evenly, leaving about a 1cm gap at the top for the tomato jelly.
13. Cover with some cling film and leave to set in the fridge for a few hours or even better still, overnight.
14. To make the tomato jelly, first take a bowl and tip in the passata.
15. Stir in the gelatine powder.
16. Pour into a saucepan and heat until just boiling.
17. Take off the heat and keep whisking until it cools down slightly (be quick because the gelatine sets quick (You can use gelatine leaves).
18. Pour over the cheesecake and back into the fridge until it has cooled down.
19. Once set, remove from the fridge and serve.
