Italian Cheesecake

Now that I have fresh ricotta, I have to come up with some new recipes.  The only recipe for which I've used ricotta in the past is lasagna, however I've usually used the cheaper cottage cheese.  One evening I served a bowl of fresh ricotta and some blackberry jam.  Mixing the two, my son commented that it had a cheesecake flavor.  Back to my computer I went looking for a good cheesecake recipe that uses ricotta.

I found it at allrecipes.com:  Italian Cream Cheese and Ricotta Cheesecake.  Because my husband has to eat gluten free, I adjusted it a bit.  I had some thick, firm homemade sour cream that I used instead of the required cream cheese and also substituted the sour cream at the end of the recipe with strained yogurt. I also made a smaller recipe for a pie plate instead of a spring form pan.  (I rarely make a recipe exactly as it appears.  If you want to see the original version, check out the link.)


Italian Ricotta Cheesecake -- Gluten free
Ingredients
8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. homemade ricotta cheese (or store-bought)
3/4 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. cornstarch
1 T. gluten-free flour (I use Bob's Red Mill all-purpose flour substitute.)
1/8 t. xanthan gum
1 c. sour cream
1/4 c. butter, melted and cooled (which I forgot to add)

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9 inch pie plate.
2.  Mix the cream cheese and ricotta cheese together in a mixing bowl until well combined.  Stir in the sugar, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla, cornstarch, flour, and butter.  Add the sour cream last.
3.  Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
4.  Bake in the preheated oven 1 hour; turn the oven off and leave in the oven 1 hour longer.  Allow to cool completely in refrigerator before serving.  Serve with your favorite fruit toppings.

If you go to the allrecipes link, you can read other comments by other cooks.  This turned out to be a deliciously light dessert.  Though I love graham cracker crusts, this is a good crustless version.  We served it with cherries and blueberries.

Try it, you'll like it!

Drunken Tofu & Rice

OK, so I made the recipe up.  I don't think there's any official recipe with this name, but it has a fun ring to it, don't you think?  To be honest, I was using up a bit of tofu with my first veggies harvested from my garden, and I wasn't sure what liquid to add.  I poured a little Merlot on the mixture, making the tofu pink, and therefore "drunken."

Drunken Tofu & Rice

2 T. olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 large kohlrabi, diced
1 1/2 c. chopped Swiss chard

1/3 c. diced firm tofu

3 leaves of holy basil, chopped  (a Thai herb)

1/4 c. red wine

3 c. cooked rice

Heat the oil in a large fry pan or wok.  Add the next 6 ingredients in their given order. cooking the vegetables until soft.  Add the basil and wine and heat through.  Add the cooked rice and serve hot.

                              

Chicken Satay

Since our daughter's return from Phuket, Thailand, we've been experimenting with some Thai recipes.  I found a great book, Simply Thai Cooking, at my favorite book store, Half Price Books.  (And, it was clearance priced at $3.00!)  In the old days, before my husband was diagnosed with celiac, I used various packets for fixing Asian foods.  Unfortunately, many of those contained gluten.  This book gives specific spices, herbs, and sauces.  We can now be tastefully gluten free.

Last night I fixed Chicken Satay and my family raved about it. Actually, my husband repeated over and over again how incredible the chicken was.  I served it on top of a rice dish that I created.  (Watch for it in another post.)


Chicken Satay
3 chicken breasts
Bamboo skewers
1 can (about 1 1/2 c.) coconut milk
Marinade:
1 t. black pepper
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. ground coriander
     (I used fresh cilantro from my garden.)
1/2 t. tumeric
1 t. minced garlic
1 T. sugar
1/4 c. soy sauce
     (I used gluten free Tamari sauce)
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. fish sauce

Cut thin slices of chicken that run the length of the pieces of meat. (each slice will be approximately 1 inch by 4 inches).  If the meat is too hard to cut into thin slices, freeze it for 30 - 45 minutes.  Place the sliced chicken in a gallon-sized freezer bag. Whisk together the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and add to the meat.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.  When ready to cook the satays, thread each slice onto a skewer, working the skewer in and out of the meat down the middle of the slice. (I was in a hurry and didn't make them into satays.  Instead, I laid them on a grilling sheet.)  Baste the chicken with coconut milk.  Grill for a few minutes on a medium-hot grill.  Turn fairly often and continue to baste.  The chicken is done when they have turned golden brown.  Serve with rice and peanut sauce.