triple chocolate ricotta cheesecake

right.

now that i have your attention with that heading, let me tell you about this cheesecake from my favourite magazine Australian Gourmet Traveller (Oct 2010 issue). This recipe is the BOMB. I made it earlier this year or late last year for a family gathering and decided to make if for lunch at HHM♥ parents place for mothers day this year after his mum sms me with a craving for 'something cheesy'.

its made in layers, so if your home during the day - it works out perfectly. it doesn't keep to long as its made with fresh FRESH ricotta cheese. I have no idea what the lifespan on ricotta mixed with melted chocolate is, but consult the expiry date of your ricotta as a guideline.

now the recipe, relatively simple and I got to use my Kitchen aid Mixer + Kitchen aid Processor. A recipe that uses both bits of kitchen sexiness definitely has my tick of approval.

now the gourmet traveller version also has a layer of dark chocolate ganache on top with a pile of crystallised hazelnuts. I omitted both of these having bought the 1.2kg ricotta and utilising left over Easter eggs for the 480g of chocolate required. plus I find you don't necessarily need the ganache on top. I'm sure its positively decedent though!!

First up - Chocolate Sable Pastry Base

60gm caster sugar
60gm sour cream
100gm soft butter
90gm plain flour
30gm cocoa

Preheat oven to 180C. Beat sugar, sour cream and 60gm butter in electric mixer until very pale. Add flour and cocoa, stir to combine. Roll out pastry between two pieces of baking paper. Place on an oven tray and bake till crisp (25-30 minutes), then cool. Break into pieces, process in food processor to fine crumbs. Melt butter and process to combine. Press into base of 22cm ring mould placed on paper lined tray. Bake till firm (8-10 minutes), cool.

 Next up - white chocolate ricotta filling

240gm white chocolate, chopped
600gm firm ricotta.

Melt white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (2-3minutes). Process ricotta in food processor until smooth, add chocolate, process to combine. Spoon over crumb base, smooth top, refrigerate until firm (30 minutes).

Then we have - dark chocolate ricotta filling
240gm dark chocolate, chopped
600gm firm ricotta
20 gm icing sugar, sieved

Same as white chocolate mixture, except add icing sugar to ricotta prior to blending to a smooth consistency.

Final photo - now I should have a photo of the whole cake HOWEVER I forgot and this was my leftover piece that I got to take home (after everyone else made sure they had a piece!) 

pea n ham soup

this afternoon i made some pea and ham soup for dinner. mum always use to make this soup when i was at home but i was never really a true fan. it used the classic split peas though which might make it a more stronger flavour?

however i found a recipe last winter for a pea and ham soup using FRESH/FROZEN PEAS. Now I love peas. I am pea crazy so I had to give this one a whirl.

last year it was our most popular soup and made in abundence at our house. frozen for quick meals and great on the palate.

tonight my little one couldnt get enough of it.

i am sure that super food ideas wouldnt mind if i shared the recipe with you. its quite the affordable soup!

 Pea and ham soup (serves 6)

1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
450g potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, trimmed, chopped
800g ham bone (uh oh mine was 1.6kg!), rind removed (whoops forgot that!)
6 cups salt reduced chicked stock
2 dried bay leaves
4 cups frozen peas

1. heat oil. add onion and garlic, cook till onion is soft (5 minutes).
2. add potato and celery, cook for another 5 minutes until they start to brown.
3. add ham bone, stock, 1 cup water (if it fits in) and bay leaves. season with pepper, cover and bring to the boil. reduce heat to low, simmer 30 minutes.
4. add peas, simmer 15 minutes or until meat starts to fall of the bone. remove from heat.
5. discard bay leaves, remove ham bone and shred ham. discard bone. blend soup until smooth, add ham back into the soup and serve.

great with toasted garlic rubbed turkish bread (if its on sale!)

happy 89th birthday gran !!!!!

This is gran turning 89 years old. Pretty cool huh? Our son Samuel (is on the right) loved LOVED the candles.

I made her a chocolate ginger cake. It was divine.



This was the extra cake for dessert because you can never have enough.

Its Mieze's Plum Cake from a Stephanie Alexander recipe.

It has 1kg of plums cut in half on top and roasted.

Summer = stone fruit season.

Enjoy xx

Note - all photos take by my lovely sister sarah

one word - salmon

last month we bought a salmon. a gorgeous new zealand salmon. she was a whole 4.5kg salmon that was filleted and pinboned at no extra cost, then vacuum sealed for the freezer.

she is delish!! we have 6 meals worth of salmon, however last week one lot made two lovely dinners for our family.

dinner 1 - grilled teriyaki salmon fillets

so i LOVE peas and ate my dinner pretty simply - grilled teriyaki salmon fillet with a side of smashed peas. it was soooooooooooooooo good. however for the man, i made some teriyaki udon noodles to go on the side. we love teriyaki in our house - its great on chicken. plus you have all the ingredients in your pantry. dont buy the premade teriyaki sauces, they are full of other stuff! this was from a low GI cookbook :

teriyaki marinade

combine 2tbsp soy sauce, 2tbsp brown sugar, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1tsp grated ginger, 1/2tbsp sesame oil and 2tbsp water. brush over meat of choice or marinate for at least 10 minutes. cook, basting half way through. use remainder of marinade for noodles.

teriyaki noodles
put 1/2tbsp sesame oil in wok, heat. add 2 chopped spring onions and 2tbsp sesame seeds. fry 1 minute. add noodles (250g rice noodles or udon noodles) and remainder of marinade. heat through. top with coriander and serve.

dinner 2 - salmon rice paper rolls.


these were so good with hoisin sauce (bottled for this one, i have no idea how to make it!). and crushed peanuts. i kept my rice paper rolls simple - they are filled with chunks of grilled salmon fillet, mint, vermicilli noodles, carrots and cucumber. mmmmmmmmmmmmm gotta repeat this dinner.

tonka truck birthday cake

yesterday was samuels 2nd birthday party.

today is the last day of him being 1 - how time has flown on by these last two years.

so for his birthday we had a few kidettes (3) around and some family and friends (30odd) over for a birthday morning tea. it was lovely but still exhausting! we were zonked last night!

for his birthday cake i made a tonka truck. what do you think?

i had to make 3x square cakes (2x chocolate and 1x vanilla) plus some chocolate ganache butter cream to stick the cakes together and a yellow truck butter cream frosting. using a black gel icing pen i was able to write tonka and draw samuel and his doggie marsba in the front.

needless to say i have about 1/2 a cake left. now i know why you give everyone a piece to enjoy at home!