On my pilgrimage, I still have a long way to go to find my perfect dish. Its very esoteric to where I will be next. On this road of mozzarella and brie, I like to call edam road.
I find my self in a puddle, a Friday night no immediate plans, no dinner dates, no drinks planned nothing!
Now with all this new time on my hands, I ponder what to do for the weekend. Fist under chin and scratching my noggin, I made a few calls, found my stomach rumbled and began the hunt for food.
The top cabinets are empty at this point. I could have easily have gone to the many fine restaurants of cork, but the Englishman inside me questioned “cook?”
Immediately I scratched off the bacon, but opt-in for a more healthy lazy meal after a long day of number crunching and brain-fodder.
To the markets!
I immediately want a pancake and get the batter bits, but being hungry and my sweet tooth sleeping, I grab some wholemeal flour, eggs some thick ham and some grated cheese. Then seeing the extortionate price, I go for the 2 for 1 offers it made sense to stock on the stuff at the price. I make my way plodding along to some cover band of a Corrs song to the tills and back home.
Simple pancake mix built, diced up some ham and add the cheese and swhoosh. I was whisked away down edam road to the south of France. I was away, lost for a few minutes and back again, to my table and life in cork. I won’t deny it, I had about 3 of them and did feel I came back from my little trip.
If you fancy a small trip to the south of France, but with out the expense, travelling and airport insecurities, I share my little treats from edam road, cheesecake with spiced pear.
Remembering that you can afford this on any budget, I made this from store brand products. But again, I feel free to splurge and indulge on organic.
(B)Spiced pear cheesecake(B)
Serves around 6 (or 4 if you really need to)
Cheesecake Mix.
Butter
Digestive biscuits
Caster sugar
Icing sugar
Cream cheese
Vanilla essence
Spiced pear topping.
Tin of pears
Mixed spices aka cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove bay leaves. I can only advice to purchase the tinned version light brown sugar.
First we’ll start with the spiced pear topping – this is so easy. It is unreal.
Now a small cluttering habit of mine is reusing old jam jars as glasses very rustic I know but also come in handy for storing this.
1. Open a tin of pears (drain)
2. If you don’t have a jam jar fear not, simply get a medium Tupperware box and eject a teaspoon of mixed spices sugar and then the tin of pears the honey and maple syrup acts as a nice glue.
3. Mix together and adding another teaspoon of mixed spices and seal and add to the overcrowding populous of the fridge.
Part two.
1.Using my favourite storing utensil the zip-lock back, add about half a packet of digestive biscuits and again a teaspoon of mixed spices and start beating up, (I like to think it’s the taxman or landlord, taking my hard earned!)
2.Once done and you get a nice crushed consistency, add about two tablespoons of butter, (unsalted) and some vanilla essence and pop in the microwave till melted. Add to a large bowl and mix till you get a nice crumble consistency.
Now if you have some large cookie cutters you can use these to make individual portions or make a large cake, add some tin foil to the pan to ensure easy removal and cutting.
Part 3 (nearly done)
Feeling greedy? Add an entire pot of Philadelphia chees or half. Add a small teaspoon of caster sugar and two large tablespoons of icing sugar to the mix and a teaspoon of vanilla essence. Start to swish together in to thick white and mix with a free stand mixer or fork.
Once you have a large dollop of white goo in a bowl, add this on top of either your cookie cutter shapes or to your dish of biscuit base. Chill in the fridge for an hour. Now if your not a fan of pears and spices in general you can use strawberries.
Simply dice some strawberries and add them to a small Tupperware dish. Add some cream and caster sugar and again some vanilla essence mix. Leave to chill and again apply to the top, after an hour to the cheese cake.
Finished product can be found here.
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/34223_444479830658_515580658_6463986_1590271_n.jpg
Bon app.
