Ginger Honey Cheesecake

In fact, the name of this cheesecake is Honey & Ginger Cheesecake. My rework of the name is a nod to Gilligan's Island. You fill in the rest. This is the penultimate payday cheesecake I will make for work. After five years of cheesecakes and other payday desserts, I am calling it quits.

The crust for this cake is made with ginger snap crumbs and melted butter. The crust mixture is pressed into the cheesecake pan and then it is frozen.

The batter begins with two packages cream cheese and a cup of sour cream. I have been struggling lately with cracks appearing on my cheesecakes, so I mixed the cheese and cream on medium-low speed, to minimize the amount of air that would be incorporated. Next came flour, brown sugar and honey. When that was fully blended in (again on slow speed), two eggs were added, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Ground cinnamon and ginger were mixed in next. Finally, the recipe calls for candied ginger, minced. Well, I have some ginger candy. That would have to do. I chopped it up and folded it into the batter. By hand.

The batter is poured over the frozen crust and bakes at 325° for 55-65 minutes. I lowered the temperature by 25° from what the recipe said because I read that 325° was at the upper maximum for baking cheesecakes, without cracking them. Or drying them out.

After an hour, I removed the cake from the oven, only to find a crack. A fairly small one, but a crack nonetheless. Not the yawning abyss that developed on the cheesecake I made for Benton County Mental Health earlier in the month. But a crack nonetheless.

Bon appétit!

Quick & Spicy Tomato Soup

We had to have more than just the Linguine with Shrimp & Lemon Oil. Didn't we? From the same episode of Everyday Italian, hosted by Giada De Laurentis on the Cooking Channel, I made Quick and Spicy Tomato Soup.

Olive oil is heated in a large soup pot. Carrots, onion and garlic are added and cooked for two minutes, or until soft. A jar of marinara sauce, two cans of chicken broth, a can of butter beans, a cup of mini farfalle patsa, salt, pepper and achiote (a spice used in Cuban cuisine) are added. This simmers for ten minutes, and is ready to serve. I sprinkled a little grated Parmesan cheese over the top of my bowl.

It was delicious. And, as importantly, quick and easy.

Bon appétit!

Linguine with Shrimp & Lemon Oil

This dish is as seen on the Cooking Channel. Again. A light, quick and easy entrée that can be whipped up in a jiffy. And again, I diverged from the original recipe in places.

A couple hours ahead of time I zested a lemon into some olive oil. Then I watched some television.

When it was time to get down to it, I boiled some salted water in which to cook the linguine. The pasta is cooked until al dente.

While the pasta cooks, olive oil is heated in a large skillet. Sliced scallions and garlic are added and cooked until softened. Shrimp are added and cooked until pink. This takes about five minutes. To the skillet are then added the cooked, drained linguine, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper. This is tossed to combine. Arugula and chopped flat-leaf parsley are then added. The lemon zest is strained from the olive oil and the oil is added to the skillet and tossed to coat the pasta. The zest is discarded.

That's all there is to it. I told you it was quick and easy.

Bon appétit!

Panko Pork and more

I recently started getting the Cooking Channel with my cable television package. It is the default channel when there is nothing riveting on TV. I watch it often. Chef Roger Mooking has a show called Everyday Exotic and that is where I was inspired for this dinner. He prepared Panko Schnitzel with Apple Salsa and Roasted Cauliflower. I deviated slightly from the recipes. Here and there.

I made the apple salsa first. Two Granny Smith apples are cored and diced. A celery stalk is also diced, smaller that the apples. Really tiny. I don't care a lot for celery so the smaller the dice, the further from my mind would it be as I ate it. Apple cider vinegar and honey are added and mixed in until the apples and celery are coated. Chopped tarragon finishes the salsa. I deviated here by not adding chopped fresh mint. I just didn't have any on hand.

Next I prepared the cauliflower. Vegetable oil, chopped garlic and cumin are mixed well. Cauliflower florets are added and tossed until they are coated. This is poured into a baking dish and few pieces of butter are placed on top. Panko is sprinkled over the top. This roasts in a 425° oven for 20-30 minutes, until the panko is golden and the cauliflower is al dente. Chef Mooking used whole cumin seeds that he ground coarse. I didn't. I simply used powdered cumin. It was, afterall, a week night.

Schnitzel requires pounding out pork cutlets until they are very thin. I didn't have any desire to do this. Nor did I need to. The pork I had purchased was already less than a half-inch thick, and would suffice. Each cutlet was dredged in flour, dipped in beaten egg, and breaded with panko crumbs. They are pan fried in vegetable oil over medium-high heat for about five minutes a side. The breading will be a deep golden brown.

We simply loved this meal! The pork was tender and moist. The breading light and crispy. The salsa was a nice variation from applesauce on pork chops. And the cauliflower was just amazing. Susie was more than willing to finish cleaning the dishes after she ate.

Bon appétit!

Quick, Colorful & Easy Dinner

I decided to surprise Susie by having dinner almost ready to serve when she got home today. But, it is a work day so I didn't want to get in over my head with prep work. Hmm. What to make? I settled on some frozen four-color, five-cheese ravioli from Costco as the basis for the meal.

Instead of using a sauce, I decided on some dried heirloom tomatoes from the jar on the shelf. I boiled these for a few minutes, let then sit for another few minutes, then poured them into a strainer. (The plan is to cook the pasta when Susie gets home, add the reconstituted tomatoes, then toss in some grated Parmesan cheese).

My inspiration for the salad came from the classic Greek horiatiki salad. I whisked together a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, two tablespoons of lemon juice, and a quarter cup of olive oil. From the herb garden I picked some oregano, then microwaved it until it was dry and crumbly. I mixed the oregano into the dressing. I picked a couple cucumbers from the garden, and a couple handfuls of a few different cherry and pear tomatoes. I peeled then sliced the cucumbers thinly and added them to the dressing. Next, I halved the tomatoes and added them. I tossed the salad with a rubber spatula and placed it in the refrigerator.

There is a bird-seed roll from the Metropol bakery. I quartered the roll and toasted it. I still have some aioli that I made last weekend to serve with the roll. The aioli is really garlicky. Really, really garlicky, so I'll serve butter for Susie. As for me, I'll have no worries about vampires.

Put all together, these elements make up a very colorful meal. But, almost as importantly, a very quick and easy meal.

Bon appétit!

Minty Chocolate Cheeecake

The mid-month cheesecake for Benton County Mental Health is due Wednesday. I have bowling practice tomorrow. Tuesday, the night before wouldn't work. Just in case. I needed to make it today. First I needed to decide which kind of cheesecake to make. I flipped through my cookbook, but did not get very far. The sixth recipe in the book of 125 Best Cheesecake Recipes precisely. The Minty Chocolate Cheesecake.

I lined the sides of a 9-inch cheesecake pan with parchment paper. For the crust I used chocolate stuffed Oreos. Double stuffed chocolate Oreos. The cream filling serves as a binding agent for the crumbs, and the butter can be eliminated from the crust. I pressed the crumbs into the pan and popped it into the freezer.

I set out the rest of the ingredients, in order to let the eggs, sour cream and cream cheese to let them reach room temperature. This allows for better mixing of ingredients, and will allegedly help prevent cracking of the finished cheesecake.

Then I went back to watching baseball on a Sunday afternoon. For a few more hours.

The cream cheese and the sugar are mixed for three minutes. Eggs are added, one at a time. Then flour, sour cream, vanilla and peppermint extract are added. Three ounces of melted chocolate are then streamed into the batter, with the mixer running.

Finally, a cup of semisweet chocolate chips are mixed with a spoon of flour and then folded into the batter. I had some green mint chips, so I let my inner anarchist run free and substituted the green mint chips for the chocolate ones. (I know. I know. But I am not as young as I once was).

The cheesecake bakes at 350° for 45-55 minutes, until the top is light brown and there is a slight jiggle at the center.

Well, this is a bit embarrassing. A crack did develop on top of the cheesecake. Fortunately, it won't affect the taste, and these get eaten so quickly that the crack will swiftly become little more than a memory. A trivial one.

Bon appétit!

Beer Bread

In the Moving Guide section of the back to school issue of the Oregon Daily Emerald, a recipe caught my eye. Beer bread. It didn't catch my eye because of "beer," but because it billed itself as so simple to make, a dorm-dweller could make it.

Three cups flour, 4 tablespoons active dry yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar are whisked together. A 12-ounce bottle of beer is added. I used a hefeweizen. That is it!

The batter is poured into a greased loaf pan and bakes at 350° for 45 minutes. Again, that is it!

While the other bread recipes, more traditional and not so traditional, produce a better result, I am not going to bash this one. It was OK. Good even. But nothing to rave about. Bummer. Maybe with a pale ale instead of hefeweizen. Maybe with a little ham or other deli meat.

Bon appétit!