honey ricotta lemon cheesecake
so, last night i baked a cheesecake. this is the story of that cheesecake and its birth.
i got inspired last weekend by watching my usual hungover sunday morning foodtv lineup of everyday italian, barefoot contessa, and easy entertaining with michael chiarello. these people are all fancy bitches who are constantly rambling on about how their recipes and entertaining methods are going to make your life SO MUCH easier, when really it's only easy for them because they a) live on tv b) have two billion dollars c) have a staff of minions that actually do everything for them so they DO make it look easy. then you are inspired, and think you can host a dinner party for 12, and the next thing you know you're drunk off the cooking wine and have exploded a bowl of melted butter all over your face.
i speak from experience.
anyway, i risked doing an everyday italian recipe this time around, because it was for cheesecake, which i adore, and the skinny pinched bitch giada made it look so damn easy. so i took a chance on a cheesecake.
(by the way, i just have to bitch about this: i CANNOT STAND when these "italian" cooks on food tv like giada and michael chiarello, who probably grew up in long island or something and can barely sneeze out a proper-sounding "buongiorno", insist on pronouncing absolutely every italian ingredient in faux-authentic-italian. like, mozzarella. i fancy myself able to speak italian, and when i'm IN ITALY, i say mozzarella with the correct pronunciation. but i don't go prancing about saying MOE-ZAH-RRRRE-LLAH with extremely enunciated syllables EVERY OTHER SECOND. JESUS! you're not fooling anybody! and if you've pissed me off with your pretentiousness, you must be WAY GONE.)
anyway. this time around, i decided to modify the recipe. now, you have to know that modifying a recipe is A Big Deal for me and my obsessive type A control freak personality; normally i follow everything absolutely to the letter. that's why i like baking so much better than cooking; baking is pretty and neat and precise; cooking leads to melted butter exploding on face, etc.
anyway, giada's recipe called for a crushed biscotti crust and orange zest. hmm, i thought. that sounds gross. i made some lemon cream cheese bars with a ginger base a while ago that were pretty good. so this time around i decided to take trader joe's excellent triple ginger snaps, crush them, and use them for the cheesecake crust instead of the biscottit that giada uses, and i mixed in lemon flavoring in zest instead of the oranges. i have to say, i think it turned out yummy. pictures and recipe are behind the cut (my recipe is basically the food tv one, cut and pasted, but with my minor changes).
8 ounces ginger snap cookies (like i said, trader joe's triple ginger snaps are the best)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 (12-ounce) container fresh whole milk ricotta, drained
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup clover honey
1 tablespoon lemon zest
4 large eggs
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Finely grind the biscotti in a food processor. Add the melted butter and process until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumb mixture over the bottom (not the sides) of the prepared pan. Bake until the crust is golden, about 15 minutes. Cool the crust completely on a cooling rack.
Blend the ricotta in a clean food processor until smooth. Add the cream cheese and sugar and blend well, stopping the machine occasionally and scraping down the sides of the work bowl. Blend in the honey and lemon zest (i also squeezed in a buncha lemon juice for fun). Add the eggs and pulse just until blended.
Pour the cheese mixture over the crust in the pan. Place the springform pan in a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the cheesecake is golden and the center of the cake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour and 5 minutes (the cake will become firm when it is cold).
(this bit - i didn't have a large roasting pan big enough to fit the springform pan, so i took tommy's suggestion and just filled a normal sized baking pan with water and put it in there next to the cheesecake. this is supposedly to help the cheesecake retain moisture and not get all dry and crack-y on top.)
Transfer the cake to a rack and cool 1 hour. Refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold, at least 8 hours and up to 2 days. Decorate with lemon slices or peel. Cut the cake into wedges and serve.
voila!:
Comments
I really can't stand that Michael Chiarello guy. How can you get away with calling your show "easy entertaining" when the first step to ever recipe is basically "step out onto your vineyard and gather an armful of vine-ripened tomatoes." I wish Paula Dean would take a belt to his backside.
How can you get away with calling your show "easy entertaining" when the first step to ever recipe is basically "step out onto your vineyard and gather an armful of vine-ripened tomatoes."
YES! EXACTLY! I HATE HIM! yet i cannot tear my eyes away.
Paula rocks.
Nice food porn post, Catherine.
thanks! i agree, paula is awesome. her food is so southern and yummy looking.
Hah, I posted something about how much I hate Giada this week as well. She looks like a bird, and that show where she goes to Rome and titters with her fiance over a glass of proseco makes me want to throttle her pigeon neck.
Wow, the hate runs deep within me.
I really appreciate all your honesty....love to hear how you think my show can improve...hate is hard to fix but a few constructive thoughts can go a long way. I try to cook dishes that are simple...ingredients avail. at an Piggly Wiggly but feel an obligation to encourage all to use best possible when possible.
Lets hear your thoughts
M. Chiarello
Love your commentary. Cannot stand Michael Chiarello he is a total snob, he uses hard to find ingredients and seems angry all the time. Giada on the other hand was born in Italy and emigrated to California when she was young. I only think she is a bitch because a) she is an awesome cook b) she is so damn skinny and eats all that great food. I have a close friend who met her at a book signing and said she is very nice and took lots of time to meet, greet and answer questions. Anyway just my opinion. BTW Paula Rocks!
I had no idea people felt that way about Michael Chiarello. I've been following his food shows since PBS and I think he's absolutely charming. Plus his food always looks delicious. I don't get Paula Dean! Once I saw her give a recipe for tomato sandwiches. The recipe was basically about assembling bread, mayo, and tomatoes. Do I need a show for that??? And everything she makes is always greasy, fried, or both.
I hit on this site by pure accident. I can understand people not liking M.C. and G.DeL. but hate is an awfully strong feeling for someone you don't even know. I have made some of M.'s and G's recipes and they have always turned out well. Sounds lot a lot of sour grapes to me.
As a Napa Valley native (6th generation), I have to agree with these comments about MC. Where does he get off calling it "his" Napa? I'm a couple of years older than he, but I don't remember any Chiarello's around the Valley. And I don't remember growing up eating the stuff he cooks. He is one of thousands who have moved in and taken over OUR Napa with their snobby ways. The charming buildings downtown were banks, clothing stores, the post office- not a bunch of wine boutiques. And we had great restaurants that were not overpriced, but served delicious, fresh food. Perhaps I should have a show on the Food network called "Napa Cooking - the way it REALLY was", and share recipes people at home in Indiana could actually cook.
Paula Dean is a fat unhealthy gross cook who makes fatty unhealthy gross food.
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