Savoring the Cheesecake

Looking for something just a little different on your plate?  Have company coming for dinner and want to impress them. . . without being a slave to your stove?  Have I got the cheesecake recipe for you!  That's right, I said cheesecake. . . and I'm not talking dessert, darling.  I'm talking as a side dish:-)

I used to make this recipe fairly frequently - many years ago. It's not a difficult recipe, reheats grandly (IF there are any leftovers) and I absolutely adore it! Have no idea why we haven't made it in so long.

I was looking for another recipe in the recipe box and came across this one.  I became rather obsessed with making it. . . but with our schedules, was hard to get a night to really be motivated to make it.  Well, yesterday morning, I simply decided that tonight was it!  No matter what, we were going to have Savory Cheesecake, baked chicken breasts and steamed snap peas.  And you know what?  We did!

You can count on this recipe being part of our regular rotation again. . . oh yes. 

Savory Cheesecake

2 Tbsp dry bread crumbs
1 green onion
15 oz ricotta cheese
1 lb cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp marjoram
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground pepper

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Butter a 9" pan (springform, glass pie plate or square casserole)  Coat bottom and sides with bread crumbs.  Set aside. (Good job Hubster!)

Combine softened cream cheese and ricotta cheese in food processor.  Whir until smooth - will take several minutes.  (the picture shows the mixture about 1/2 way to creamy smoothy.  See how it still looks just a little grainy from the ricotta?)  Be sure to turn the machine off and scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula two or three times.

While the cheeses are blending - chop the green onion and parsley, set aside.

Once cheese mixture is smooth, add green onion and parsley, eggs, cream, marjoran, salt and pepper to the food processor.

Whir again until smooth.  Pour mixture into prepared pan.

Using your spatula, level the mixture in the pan for even baking.

Bake until the top is browned and cake is set - about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Remove baked cheesecake from oven and let rest, at room temperature, for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

  We suggest warm marinara (spaghetti) sauce to be served over each slice of cheesecake.  YUM!

We served our marinara-topped Savory Cheesecake with baked chicken breasts (look for this simple and tasty recipe next week!) and steamed snap peas.  

Have a Savory kind of day ~

Robin Z