Goat Cheesecake

Years ago I had a group of 15 girlfriends over to Chateau McCoy for an estrogen-filled weekend.  My dear husband is such a trooper.  Without going into a lot of detail, some of the highlights included firecrackers (in February), lots of imbibing, and panties being burned in the fire pit, followed by a warning from the HOA.  It's not a good time until the HOA gets involved.

But one of the better, neighbor-friendly highlights of the weekend was the Goat Cheesecake.  I took my old cream cheese cheesecake recipe and modified it to use goat cheese instead.  I also stirred in some fig preserves, and made a crust of Ritz crackers.  It was a huge hit.



Ingredients:
30 Ritz crackers
1/2 c. slivered almonds
1 stick butter (melted)
18 oz. goat cheese (chevre style - not seasoned)
1 can (14 oz.) fat free condensed milk
3 eggs
3 T. cornstarch
1/2 c. fig preserves
2 T. sliced almonds (for topping)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Combine cracker crumbs, slivered almonds and butter in a food processor and pulse until dough forms.  Press into the bottom of a springform pan.  Place pan in the refrigerator.

In a mixer bowl, beat goat cheese until fluffy.  Gradually beat in condensed milk until smoothe.  Add eggs and cornstarch; mix well.  Pour into springform pan (over cumb crust).  Drop small spoonfuls of the fig preserves into the cheesecake.  Sprinkle sliced almonds on top.

Bake 50 minutes or until center is set.  Cool; chill.  (I love saying "Cool" and "Chill", together).  This is great served with a glass of Pinot Noir.

Shrooms Galore

My dear husband and I were in Germany a few weeks ago, and the foodie that I am, I was prepared to be underwhelmed by brats, wienerschnitzel, potato salad and sauerkraut.  To my surprise, the food was amazing -- better than France.  I even enjoyed the biers.  If you've never been to Berlin, I highly recommend going, not only to see both sides of the old Berlin Wall, but also for the food.

Ever since we returned home to Chateau McCoy, it's been raining monsoon style.  Not that I'm complaining.  It's July and the rain has caused the temperature to drop from the typical 105 degrees to a balmy 90 degrees.  I'd much rather have soggy ground than last year's drought and ensuing forest fires.  I had to call my HOA and explain to them that the grass guy attempted to mow but his mower got stuck in the mud, causing him to do a burnout in the front yard and then bail, and that my foot-high grass will be cut as soon as the rain lets up and the yard is less swamp-like.

Also with the rain has sprouted hundreds of mushrooms of varying varieties.  I have no idea which (if any) of these are edible.  And I'm not going to eat one to find out, either.  But I have to remove them all in case Lola decides to eat them.  Lola acts like she's tripping on shrooms on any given day.  I can't imagine what she would be like if she actually ate one.

Picking shrooms out of the back yard reminded me of the food in Germany and gave me inspiration to try to emulate the wonderful mushroom gravy that covered or accompanied almost every food we ate while there.  I also wanted a chance to use the new spaetzle maker that I ordered from Amazon as soon as I got home.

This is a photo of pork medallions covered in brown mushroom gravy with a side of spaetzle.  I didn't make this.  It was just one of the many meals I had while in Germany, and like the ugly tourist that I am, I took photos of my food.

I admit that the prospect of making spaetzle was daunting to me.  Everyone I spoke with about cooking it had said that they knew someone who made excellent spaetzle.  But that person was usually someone's great grandmother from Germany. 

In addition to pork medallions, this same mushroom gravy was often served atop Wienerschnitzel (which is the origin of Chicken Fried Steak here in the South), changing it to Jaegerschnitzel.  I really wasn't sure what was in the brown mushroom (Jaegel) gravy, so I went internet rousing and came to realize that Germans use a wide range of schnitzel gravies, including: cheese-based (Kase); tomato-based (Zigeuner); tomato and pepper-based (Paprika); pepper cream sauce (Rahm); fried egg, onions and capers (Holstein); and mushrooms, bacon,  onions and burgundy (Jaeger). 



For the Spaetzle:
Mix together 2 eggs (slightly beaten), 1 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 c. milk, 1 t. kosher salt, 1/4 t. baking powder.  Refrigerate in a closed container for several hours.

I used Veal Chops with my meal.  I marinated the chops in a mixture of red balsamic vinegar, olive oil and worcestershire sauce. 

Approximately one hour before time-to-serve, salt and boil water in a large stock pot.  While water is heating, fry a piece of bacon in a deep skillet.  After the fat has been rendered and the bacon is brown, remove bacon and set aside for later.  Add an additional 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet.

Dredge chops in seasoned flour and then brown in the oil (apx. 5 minutes on each side).   Place browned veal chops into a casserole dish and set aside.

Put Spaetzle dough into Spaetzle collander and push dough into boiling water.  Once dumplings

begin to float to the top of the water, place a lid over the dumplings and cook on medium for another 10 minutes.  Then remove from heat, strain and rinse with cold water.  Set aside.


In the skillet you used to brown the chops, add 2 T. olive oil, 4 cups fresh sliced mushrooms, 2 T. minced garlic, and then crumble up the reserved piece of bacon.  Once mushrooms are translucent, add 1 cup chicken broth and 1 cup red wine.  Cook, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes, or until mushrooms shrink and sauce thickens. 




Preheat oven to 400. Layer a few fresh thyme sprigs over the veal chops. Pour mushroom mixture on top. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until chops are medium in center (using a meat thermometer). 




In a large skillet, add 2 pieces of chopped bacon and cook until browned.  Add boiled spaetzle and cook, stirring frequently, for approximately 5 minutes.

I served this with steamed spinach on the side. 

While we were in Germany, I drank nothing but really strong coffee and a really good bier concoction called "Radler", which translated into English means, "Rattler".  I'm not sure how this very tame-tasting Heffeweissen that is combined with a clear sparkling soda (like Sprite), came to possess such a threatening monniker.  I drank one of these when we first arrived, in an effort to "When in Berlin, be a Jelly Donut."  I was really surprised by how absolutely yummy this bier was.  And for the rest of the trip, drank nothing but Radlers.  Unfortunately, I have found no one near me who even knows what Radler beir is, much less, sells it. 

So if you also cannot get your mitt around a cold Radler, then I recommend a hearty Chianti or Bordeaux with this meal.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I love cauliflower and since the very first time I roasted some in the oven, I've never cooked them any other way.  When I roast cauliflower, I mix equal parts (approximately 1/2 cup of each) olive oil with whatever pesto(s) I currently have available (basil, artichoke, sun dried tomato, and chimichurri all work equally well).  Mix the pesto with oil in a large bowl with a whisk.  Add in the juice of one lemon and continue whisking. 

Add cauliflower florets (from one head of cauliflower) into oil/pesto mixture and toss until well coated. Preheat oven to 350.  In a casserole dish, gently add cauliflower and layer in single file.  Cover with foil and cook in oven for 40 minutes.  Remove foil.  With a spatula, flip over florets.  Add about 8-10 trimmed cloves of garlic.  Return to oven and continue cooking (uncovered) for an additional 30 minutes, or until cauliflower is tender throughout.  Remove from oven and set aside. 

You could serve cauliflower this way, with almost any meat or fish.  I make this several times a month.

Or you could go one step further and make soup out of it.  To make cauliflower soup, spoon roasted cauliflower and garlic into a food processor.  Add approximately 1 cup of chicken stock and pulse and then puree until mixture is smoothe.

In a large saucepan, combine pureed cauliflower mixture with 1 cup of fat free half and half.  Turn heat on low.  Add a few pinches of Kosher salt, and lots of fresh coarse ground black pepper.  Stir frequently to prevent sticking, for about 15 minutes. 

While soup is cooking on the stove, heat oven to 400.  Place about 1 cup of pine nuts into a metal pie pan.  Place pine nuts in oven.  Shake after about 5 minutes to prevent sticking.  After 8 minutes total, remove pine nuts from oven and allow to cool.

Remove cauliflower soup from stove and add 1 cup of freshly grated Asiago cheese.  Stir until melted.

Ladle cauliflower soup into bowls.  Sprinkle tops generously with smoked ground Paprika.  Garnish with a teaspoon full of toasted pine nuts.  Drizzle really good olive oil around the edges of the soup.  Serve warm with warmed Naan bread or freshly baked french bread.

This is a really delicate tasting soup, save for the spicy bite of the smoked Paprika.  I recommend a really spicy Malbec from Argentina to compliment the Paprika. 

Stealing Pinterest Recipes

I'm fairly active on Pinterest.  I like to look at all of the really nice home improvement features - like those gas-lit outdoor pits that are made out of petrified wood with tiki statues carved in the sides, that appear to be lit up and breathing smoke.  I take things like this and immediately port them over into a folder of mine entitled, "My Style."  Which is funny, considering that my "style" is not Polynesian.  Not at all.  Nor will I be purchasing any smoke blowing Polynesian God fire pits for my back yard.  I just think it's cool that someone out there... someone very far away from my Home Owner's Association, has a fire pit such as this.  I should probably create a Pinterest folder entitled, "Not Approved by my HOA".

But I digress.  I also steal a lot of recipes from Pinterest and I port these recipes into a folder entitled, "Recipes to Try".  My dear husband pointed this out to me tonight, when he asked me if I had "made" this.  "This" would be referring to this wonderful recipe that I stole from Pinterest called, Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars http://cookiesandcups.com/sopapilla-cheesecake/ .  I told him that I had.  If this doesn't sound like a trick question to you, then you are not alone.  I did not understand the trickery of this question either, until my dear husband corrected me and said, "Didn't you get this recipe from Pinterest?"

"Well, yeah."  I said.  "That's kind of a requirement for Pinterest Dinner Night." 

Just for clarity, for those of you who are, for whatever reason, subscribed to random bloggers but not to Pinterest, Pinterest does not charge a fee for membership, nor does it charge you for the recipes you steal.  Just the way this blog will one day end up pinned on Pinterest [spoiler alert!], anyone who puts their stuff out onto the world wide web, is subject to the possibility of someone pinning your most intimate thoughts, nekkid photos and RECIPES, onto Pinterest.

"Well it's not an original recipe then," he said.

"No," I said.  "It was someone else's recipe.  Now it's mine."

The Oldest Girl chose this recipe for our Pinterest Dinner Night at home.  The only deviation I made from the author's original recipe, was to add an egg to the "cheesecake" portion of the bar.  I also used the 1/3 less fat version of cream cheese.

Ingredients:

2 cans Crescent Rolls

2 boxes Neufchtel (light cream cheese)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 t. real vanilla

1 raw egg

1/2 stick real butter

cinnamon/sugar (1/2 c. granulated sugar mixed with 2 T. ground cinnamon)

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a glass 9x13" pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Open 1 can of crescent rolls and lay flat on the bottom of the pan, pressing to meet sides and corners.

Mix together cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, vanilla, and egg, until well blended.  Pour over flattened crescent rolls.  Open second can of cresent rolls and lay over cream cheese layer.  Melt butter in microwave for 10 seconds.  Drizzle over top of crescent dough.  Sprinkle top with cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

This is great served with a giant glass of 14 Hands Hot to Trot red blend.