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        Life in rural France - Food - Friends - Wine - Cheese - Comments

   Welcome to French Food Focus. The name describes the intent of this blog. I'll focus on food and because I live in rural   
   France the stress will be upon French food.  There are numerous posts concerning life in France and, certainly, opinions
   about anything that strikes my fancy.
   If you have some good recipes  or if you want to rave about any great French restaurants this  is the place to do it.

 I hope you enjoy my ramblings about rural France! 

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This is our village. Our house is the white one at the top right.                      

• Cheesecake.
  
   My recipe adopted for France, but with American notes.
   

  For the Crust

        12 (180 ml) Tablespoons unsalted butter

        12 (340g) ounces of cookie crumbs (see later)

        6 (90ml) tablespoons caster sugar

   

  For the Filling

        4 eggs, separated

        24 (680G)ounces of cream cheese (see later)

        One lemon

   

  For the topping

        I used black berry puree, reduced with gelatin added, but you can use anything you
      like. The trick is to make sure it will set as a jelly once cold. Quince jelly is nice as is
      a lemon puree. Cherry is very traditional (both jam & halved cherries)

   

  Equipment:

        Mixing bowls & utensils

        Approx 7 inch spring form cake tin

        Parchment paper

        A baking pan large enough to hold the cake tin comfortably. 2?+ deep

   

  Method

  -        Line the bottom and the sides of the cake tin with the paper making sure that the paper around the side is at least 2 inches high. Use a bit of soft butter as ?glue? to hold the paper in place.

  -        Pre- heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

   

  For the crust:

        - melt the butter

        - Break the cookies into fairly fine crumbs (I bash them in a plastic bag
           with a rolling pin)

        - Add the sugar to the cookie crumbs

        - Pour the melted butter over the cookie- sugar mixture & mix well

        - Press the mixture evenly over the lined cake tin, both bottom & sides
          try to get the sides at least 1 inch high.

        - Bake for roughly 10 minutes, remove from the oven & let cool.

   

  For the cake mixture

  -        Separate the eggs into separate bowls

  -        Mix the egg yolks & the cream cheese together until smooth

  -        Add the juice & zest of the lemon to the mixture & mix in well

  -        Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks

  -        Gently fold & mix the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture

  -        Gently place the mixture into the cake tin with its crust, smoothing over the top & making sure any gaps are filled.

   

  To Cook

  -        Place the cake tin into the baking pan

  -        Carefully fill the baking pan with hot water until the level is within 1? of the top of the cake tin.

  -        Very carefully place the baking tin in the middle of the pre-heated oven.

  -        Bake for about 1 hour or until the top just browns.

  -        Remove from oven & remove the cake tin from the water.

  -        Let cool then place in the fridge.

   

  The topping

  -        As previously noted the topping needs to set into a jelly like consistency

  -        I normally use gelatin to achieve this

  -        As mentioned the topping can be anything you like.

  -        What is important is that the cake is fully cooled (at least a couple of hours in the fridge) before you put the topping on.

  -        So, prepare your topping and let it cool, but not set. Then pour it over the cake smoothing as you go. Place the cake back in the fridge (or even the freezer) until the topping has set.

  -        Now you can remove the cake from the spring form pan & carefully peel off the parchment paper. If you are brave you can lift the bottom of the cake and gently peel off one side then the other of the paper under the cake. If not just leave it and move the cake to a serving plate.

   

  Notes:

   

  -        Type of cookies. In the USA Graham crackers are used. I?m told that English digestive biscuits work well. In France I just bought some cheap sugar cookies & they were Ok. Italian almond biscuits should be excellent.

  -        Cream Cheese. Philadelphia brand is the standard in the USA. I?m told you can find it here, but I haven't so far. The only thing that works is KIRI. Its fine except for having to peel off the foil around all those little packets. 4 of the 160 gram packets are close to the 24 ounces called for.

  - The cheese cake is best after its had at least overnight to rest & cool in the fridge.