Red Fruit Festival Recipe Entry: Savory Sundried Tomato Goat Cheesecake

Suffice it to say, I am tickled heirloom tomato pink to do my first recipe contest. My good friend Maggie is a recipe contest and twitter queen and I hitched my wagon along for the ride. We made a savory sundried tomato goat cheesecake with a basil and parmesan crust. We topped the cheesecake with a tomato water and juice gelee, basil, and tomato paper (made from crisped tomato skins.) We plated the cheesecake with a Carpaccio of heirloom tomatoes and coulis made from tomato pulp. It wasn’t a simple recipe but it sure is delicious and lots of fun to make.

Mid-Atlantic’s top chefs, restaurants, farmers, community gardeners and local growers are celebrating Local Tomatoes with a stellar food and wine pairing on Friday, September 24th at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center. We will certainly keep you posted on how it goes.



SAVORY SUNDRIED TOMATO GOAT CHEESECAKE WITH BASIL AND PARMESAN CRUST

FOR THE CRUST

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of fresh bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons of butter
½ cup of grated parmesan
¼ cup of fresh basil leaves
Dash of salt and pepper
Olive Oil Spray

METHOD:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. In a food processor blitz together all of the ingredients except for the spray, the order doesn’t matter. Pulse until all the ingredients are incorporated and the breadcrumbs look like wet sand
3. Use the olive oil spray to grease an 8-inch spring form pan
4. Pour crust mixture into the pan and push down with the bottom of a glass to make a uniform crust along the bottom and edges
5. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool on a baking rack. Keep the oven on for the cheesecake to bake at the same temp in about 5 minutes

CHEESECAKE FILLING

INGREDIENTS:
11 ounces of fresh soft goat cheese
8 ounces of organic cream cheese
3 large organic eggs
½ cup of organic heavy cream
¼ cup of fresh basil
¼ cup of fresh parsley
¼ cup of sundried tomatoes packed in olive oil
Dash of salt and pepper

METHOD:
1. Put a large pot of water on the heat to boil.
2. Cover the outside of the baking pan with three layers of foil. This will prevent any of the water from the ban marie spoiling your cake
3. Blitz in a food processor all of the ingredients until they make a creamy almost lightly golden smooth batter
4. Fill the cooled crust with the batter
5. Create a ban marie by making a bath for the foil wrapped cake pan. In a large roasting pan, pour the hot water until it is about an inch and half deep. Carefully place the foil wrapped pan with the cheesecake filling into the roasting pan. You want the water to come up about half way up the outside of the cake pan
6. Carefully place in the oven and bake at 350 for 50 minutes to an hour
7. Every oven is different so check. You want the outside of the cake to be set and pull away from the sides of the cake pan. The top will have a few slight kisses of brown, and the middle of the cake should still jiggle a bit. If you use a cooking thermometer the middle of the cake should register at about 150 F
8. Let the cake cool slowly within the ban marie. This will prevent cracking
9. When cool, cover with plastic cling wrap and set in the fridge for up to two (2) days



TOMATO PAPER (CRISPY TOMATO SKINS)

INGREDIENTS:
Large pot of boiling water
8 to 10 large/medium sized fresh tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

METHOD:
1. Set the large pot of boiling water on medium high heat to keep a rolling boil
2. Make two small incisions the shape of cross on the bottom of each tomato
3. Blanch the tomatoes in the boiling water for a minute or two until you can start to see the skins loosen
4. Carefully remove the tomato skins by starting at the bottom and peeling upward. They will come off in strips. If you are gentle you will have four good size peels of tomato skin for each tomato. But don’t stress it, little one or big ones work just fine
5. Lay the tomato skins on a parchment lined baking sheet
6. Drizzle with olive oil
7. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper
8. Lay the baking sheet and the skins in the oven underneath your cheesecake at the same oven temp 350 F
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the skins look crispy
10. Cool on a wire rack so that bottom of the skins can crisp as well
Note: These will keep crispy for 3 days in a air tight container. You can use them whole or grind them up and they add a lovely intensely tomato flavor to soups, sandwiches. I use them as a garnish on gazpacho or in sandwiches

TOMATO WATER AND PULP

INGREDIENTS:
8 to 10 skinless tomatoes
½ teaspoon of salt

METHOD:
1. Core the tomatoes and remove the stem
2. Cut into quarters
3. Puree in a food processor
4. Lay a colander in a large bowl, and lined with a few layers of clean cheesecloth
5. Carefully pour the tomato puree into the cheesecloth bowl and sprinkle with half a teaspoon of salt.
6. Cover with plastic cling wrap
8. Let sit over night
9. In the bottom of the bowl will be the tomato water in the cheesecloth will be the pulp.



TOMATO WATER AND JUICE GELEE

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of tomato water
1 cup of tomato juice
2 packages of unflavored gelatin

METHOD:
1. In a small sauce pan heat the tomato juice until it is almost boiling
2. Add the gelatin to the cold tomato water and stir
3. When the tomato water thick and the gelatin soft add to the hot tomato juice off the heat.
4. Pour into a container and place covered in the fridge for a few hours to set. (I just left it in the fridge while I went to work.)

TOMATO COULIS

INGREDIENTS:
Tomato pulp from tomato puree after strained overnight
Dash of white pepper to taste

METHOD:
1. Using a wooden spoon and fine mesh colander push the pulp through into a bowl
2. In the end you should have a thick but smooth pinkish sauce of tomato and in the colander the seeds. It takes a while, keep pushing it through
3. Taste and add white pepper if needed



TO SERVE
1. Run your knife along the edge of the spring form pan
2. Spoon and spread the tomato gelee on top of the cake
3. Remove the sides of the pan by popping it open and carefully lifting the spring form off the cake
4. Create a circle of basil leaves in the center of the cake.
5. Create tomato paper fleurette by arranging the tomato paper like petals in the middle of the basil

TO PLATE
1. Carefully cut a slice of the cake and slide your serving knife underneath the crust to lift
2. Arrange some tomato paper and basil on top of the cake
3. Using a squirt bottle add some of the coulis to the side of the cake
4. Thinly slice some beautiful heirloom tomatoes to create a Carpaccio alongside the cake
5. The tomatoes should be sweet enough after the hot summer sun, but if not feel free to garnish with a little agave syrup and some flake sea salt over the Carpaccio
6. Serve with a cold glass of Vino Verde and good friends



THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING US TO SUBMIT OUR RECIPE. IT WAS LOTS OF FUN TO MAKE AND WE HAD LOTS OF FUN EATING.

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy tomato-ing