You know what they say: The reward for working hard is to be asked to do more work. In this case, though, the work was a pleasure and being asked to do it was a great compliment. A couple from the Chorale, Barb and John Wollan, asked me if I would be willing to do the reception for the small (ha!) recital that they were planning to give. They’d pay me. Oh no, I said. Being paid makes things very complicated. I’m happy to do it. So above you can see the results. I had been assured that the number attending would be 100 at the very most. Well, there were at least 150, so I’m afraid that I spent much of the performance worrying that there wouldn’t be enough food. It ended up fine, though. We even ended up with a whole gallon of leftover cider.
Barb and John did a beautiful job, and everyone was very complimentary about the food. I got quite a bit of the work done ahead of time, so the only real heart attack was the setup itself. I went in very early, I thought, and had planned to spend some time going over my music after I got everything done. As it was, at 7:25 I was frantically running around getting the tables all set up. Jim and I ran in during intermission to pour the cider from the pots on the stove into the hot drink dispensers and take the fruit and cheesecakes out of the fridge, and then I missed the grand finale because I wanted to have all the tealights lit as people came into the room.
I’m giving the recipes for the two kinds of savory cheesecake that I made. I must say, of all the things I make for parties it’s these two plus one more (which I will post in connection with the Chorale Christmas reception at some point) that get the most praise. They’re very easy, and they allow you to serve cheese without a lot of trouble and expense. So here they are:
Blue Cheese Cheesecake
I'd give credit for this recipe if I knew where I got it. Even people who think they don't like blue cheese often like this. The flavor is toned down by the cream cheese. Be sure to read the note at the end about re-sizing this recipe.
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
- 1 cup cheese crackers, crushed I'm including directions for the crust since it's part of the original recipe but I don't usually bother with it. I don't think of this as something you eat on its own but something you spread on crackers, so why does it need a crust?
Filling:
- 16 ounces cream cheese softened
- 8 ounces blue cheese
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 300 deg. Butter 9 inch springform pan; sprinkle cracker crumbs on bottom and sides.
-
Blend cheeses, eggs, flour, salt, and sour cream. (Easiest way is to use a food processor.) Fold or pulse in onions and walnuts. Pour mixture into pan. Bake 35 minutes, then check temperature of cake in center with an instant-read thermometer. Once it reaches 160 deg., it's done. (The original recipe has you bake it for an hour at 325, which is too hot and too long.) Cool and chill overnight. Garnish with parsley and tomato roses, or with additional chopped green onions, if desired. Serve at room temperature on crackers.
Recipe Notes
While people really like this stuff, they don’t eat a lot of it. I finally decided that I needed to make smaller ones, so I plan from now on to make 6” cakes, especially if I’m making another type of savory cheesecake to go with it. That size is roughly half the area of a 9” pan, so you can just divide the batter between two pans (if you want to have two cheesecakes, perhaps one for each of two serving tables) or just cut the above amounts in half and make just one small cheesecake. The 6” pan is going to give you a slightly thicker cheesecake, but it will be smaller and so should bake faster. Check for doneness at 20 minutes.
(Note: Above is an affiliate link; if you click through and purchase the item I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. NOTE THAT YOU WILL LAND ON THE PAGE WITH THE 4" SIZE--SELECT THE 6 x 2 3/4" OPTION TO GET THE CORRECT SIZE FOR THIS RECIPE.)
Savory Herbed Cheesecake
This is a way to serve cheese to a lot of people very easily and inexpensively. Be sure to read the note at the end of the recipe about making a smaller size unless you're serving this to a huge group.
Ingredients
Filling:
- 3 8 oz . packages cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 4 eggs I used jumbo ones
- 1 tsp . salt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Grated zest from one lemon if you used a fresh lemon for above; otherwise, use 1/8 tsp. lemon oil*
- 2-3 tsp . Italian seasoning depending on how strong of an herb flavor you want
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley Italian parsley would work best.
- 1 cup freshly-grated Parmesan or Pecorino/Romano cheese
- 4 shallots, finely minced I have also used red onion, about 1/2 --shallots have a more refined flavor, I guess, but it doesn't really matter.
Instructions
-
Use your food processor to mix up the filling and pour it into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 300 deg. until center reaches 160, 35-40 minutes. Chill, remove from the springform pan, and serve with crackers. People go nuts over this.
Recipe Notes
*I just use bottled lemon and lime juice in my recipes, sorry to say. Actually, I'm not all that sorry, since I did a blind taste test between bottled and fresh at some point and honestly couldn't tell the difference. Keeping fresh limes and lemons on hand is a massive pain, and the zest and juice requirements for a recipe don't always match up with a whole fruit. And some recipes call for zest and not for any juice at all! What are you supposed to do then? So I keep the bottled stuff on hand plus a magical ingredient called "citrus oil." The item I keep on hand is Boyajian Inc Boyajian Assorted Pure Citrus Oil, Set of 3
Note on size: Although people love this stuff, they don't eat a lot of it, mainly because it's so rich and flavorful. I finally decided that I needed to make smaller ones, so I plan from now on to make 6" cakes, especially if I'm making another type of savory cheesecake to go with it. That size is roughly half the area of a 9" pan, so you can just divide the batter between two pans (if you want to have two cheesecake, perhaps one for each of two serving tables) or just cut the above amounts in half and make one small cheesecake. The 6" pan is going to give you a slightly thicker cheesecake, but it will be smaller and so should bake faster. Check for doneness at 20 minutes and go on from there.
