Sunday 22 August 2010

Zucchini Tomato & Ricotta Galette

I have been thinking about making one of these delicious pastries since I saw the photo of a galette by Smitten Kitchen last week. Unfortunately work has been crazy busy, and I only just got to try it out tonight. It is amazingly delicious!!!
The pastry is flaky and the sour cream gives it such a wonderful taste.

Anyway here is my version of a galette adapted from Meals at Home


Base:
220gms Plain flour
120gms chilled salted butter
65gms sour cream
40gms fresh lemon juice
67gms chilled water

Filling:
1 large zucchini sliced into 1/2cm rounds
2 Roma tomatoes sliced into 1/2 cm rounds
250gms ricotta cheese
40gms grated Parmesan cheese
60gms grated tasty cheese
2 large eggs
1 bunch of basil chopped
1 tbs chopped thyme
1 shallot minced
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method
  1. Place flour, butter, and sour cream in the food processor and process until it resembles coarse crumbs.
  2. Place flour mix in a bowl, pour water, and lemon juice and stir with a wooden spoon.
  3. Knead lightly on a floured surface, once it comes together wrap in glad wrap and place in the fridge to rest.
  4. Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius.
  5. Spread the tomato and zucchini slices over paper towels. This will drain the juice that will come out of them. Pat the tops with paper towel.
  6. Mix cheeses with thyme, basil, shallot and egg. Season mix with a little salt and pepper if desired. Keep in mind that two of the cheeses already have some salt in them.
  7. Take pastry out of the fridge and roll it out to a large circle (approx 14 inches)
  8. Place on a flat baking tray lined with baking paper.
  9. Place cheese mix in the middle of the pastry, and spread out evenly leaving a 4cm edge.
  10. Start placing the tomato and zucchini on top of the cheese, each slice only slightly overlapping. Sprinkle with freshly cracked salt and pepper.
  11. Fold the leftover edge of pastry over the cheese zucchini tomato, just to make an edge that will hold in the filling. Make sure that you press this edge onto itself, I found mine was just about to let the fillings spill out.
  12. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the egg/cheese is set.
  13. Serve warm with steamed vegetables.

Sunday 15 August 2010

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake - Gluten Free

This recipe was adapted from a recipe published in the Master Chef magazine. I just found the recipe online, and it turns out that the recipe originally came from the Lindt website. Anyhoo, here's the original recipe and my version :D


Base
200g gluten free shortbread biscuits
50g Dessicated Coconut
100g cream cheese


For the cheesecake
500g cream cheese
150g sour cream
120g sugar
1 lemon, zest only
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp corn flour
150g Fresh or frozen raspberries

BASE
  1. Grease and line a 20cm square pan.
  2. Place biscuits in the food processor and process until you get a fine crumb.
  3. Add cream cheese, and coconut, and process until thoroughly combined.
  4. Press mix into the pan, and place in the fridge until the rest of the cake is ready.
CHEESECAKE
  1. Place cream cheese and sour cream in food processor. Process until smooth.
  2. Add egg, cornflour, sugar, and lemon rind. Process thoroughly.
  3. Remove about half of the mix from the food processor and set aside.
  4. Add 50 gms of the raspberries and process thoroughly.
  5. Pour the raspberry cheesecake mix into the pre-prepared pan, then pour the one without raspberry over it. Using a skewer, make a swirl pattern.
  6. Decorate the top of the cheesecake with the leftover raspberries.
  7. Bake in a water bath at 150 degrees Celsius for an hour and 10 minutes.
  8. Chill before serving.