The Best New York Cheesecake

 New York Cheesecake

From Gilt Taste

 Confession: I'm not much of a cheesecake fan. It always seemed too dense, too rich, liable to sit in my stomach like a brick for about a day. When a Cheesecake Factory opened up locally, I tried a slice once or twice, but overall, remained unimpressed. 

Then, recently, I stumbled upon a recipe for New York Cheesecake from Ruth Reichl, and my interest was piqued. As a big fan of the food writer and former editor of Gourmet magazine, I knew if anybody could share a good recipe for cheesecake, it was this long-time New Yorker. 

I was not disappointed. Cream cheese made without gum was expensive, so I only did 1 part of that to 2 parts of traditional cream cheese. Someday I'll splurge and make the whole thing with that creamy, crumbly, heavenly substance, but even a little natural, gum-free cream cheese made a huge difference.

I served my cheesecake at a New York-themed book club party and everyone voted it the best cheesecake ever, from the crispy-sweet crust to the creamy, smooth, double-layered filling. We devoured it happily and quickly. Thanks, Ruth! I knew you wouldn't let me down!

New York Cheesecake
Recipe by Ruth Reichl

Serves 12-16

For the crust
1½ cups chocolate wafer or graham cracker crumbs (about 6 ounces)
½ cup melted butter
¼ cup sugar
pinch salt

For the filling
1½ pounds cream cheese, preferably without gum, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla paste

For the topping
2 cups sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste

Bake the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the cookie crumbs with the sugar and the melted butter and press into bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Put into the freezer for 15 minutes (it will keep here, covered, for a couple of months). Bake for 10 minutes, just to crisp the crust. Turn the oven down to 325 degrees, and set the springform pan in a larger pan to catch any drips.

Make and bake the filling: Beat the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Pour into crust and bake 50 minutes, or until the cheese is set on the edges, but still a bit wobbly in the middle. (Depending on your oven, this can take up to an hour or more; just be patient and check every 5 minutes or so.) Remove from the oven (leave oven on) and cool for about 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Top and bake again: Stir together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla and spread over cooled cake. Return to oven for 12 minutes until glossy. Topping will set as the cake cools.

Chill: Cool completely, cover, and chill in the refrigerator at least 8 hours.

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

When it comes to cheap meals, beans and rice is a favorite around here. We usually do a Cilantro-Lime Rice and Cafe Rio Black Beans, which are amazing by the way, but take a little bit more effort than my pregnant self was quite willing to muster up tonight.

For this Meatless Monday, I opted to try an easy-looking Cuban Black Beans with Rice. I was pleased to find that the recipe was not only quick (ready in about 30 minutes), but came out looking almost exactly like the picture. I used brown rice instead of white, and instead of radishes, I topped ours with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt. 

This meal was a good reminder to me that sometimes the simple things in life are the most satisfying. I want to be sure to remember this recipe the next time I'm in need of a dead simple and delicious dinner.

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

Real Simple

1  cup brown rice

1  tablespoon  olive oil

1  onion, chopped

1  bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

2  cloves  garlic, chopped

kosher salt and black pepper

1  teaspoon  ground cumin

2  15.5-ounce  cans black beans, rinsed

1  teaspoon  dried oregano

1  tablespoon  red wine vinegar

4  radishes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I used a dollop of plain Greek yogurt as a garnish)

1/4  cup  fresh cilantro 

Directions

Cook the rice according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.

Stir in the cumin and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans, oregano, and 1 cup water. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Add the vinegar. Smash some of the beans with a potato masher to thicken. Serve over the rice. Top with the radishes and cilantro. Makes 4 servings.

Dine Downtown Week: Dinner at Mulvaney's

I'm slowly working my way towards all of the Sacramento restaurants that have received the Slow Food "Snail of Approval". Last week, I noticed that one of the restaurants I've wanted to try for years, Mulvaney's B&L, had a great-sounding prix fixe menu posted for Dine Downtown week. Three courses for $30 sounded like an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

Chef Patrick Mulvaney is heavily involved in the Slow Food scene and is famous for turning whatever comes through the door from local farms that day into dinner that night. Because of the nature of his farm-to-table practices, diners normally don't find out what they will be eating that night until they are handed a dinner menu (although for this week, the same prix fixe menu was offered every night).

The restaurant is housed in a historic firehouse downtown, and the signage is so subtle I could have walked right by it if I wasn't paying attention.

Sometimes the little things make a big difference as far as dining ambiance go. You know it's a nice restaurant when the water and salt/pepper look like this:

The bread and butter sure were pretty to look at. I believe this is pink Himalayan salt sprinkled over butter with a crusty bread on the side.

The amuse bouche was a lamb and pork sausage topped with a spicy sofrito. These flavors were so good, I rather wished to take a whole sausage and the sofrito topping on a nice roll and call it lunch one day.

My salad was an ever-so-slightly bitter frisee salad dressed in a nice vinaigrette, served along side a Wood Ear Mushroom Scaccia. This is a warm Italian tomato and cheese pie, although here it seemed more like a roll with the mushroom in the center. The sauce had a surprising kick to it and I loved the combination of slightly bitter greens with spicy and savory scaccia.

This was NOT my dish - it was my husband's. He opted for a 28-day aged ribeye steak topped with bacon butter (yes, bacon and butter, together) and served with broccoli raabe and carrots. He said it topped the steak at Ruth's Chris and that this will be his new standard for steaks. Clearly, he was a big fan.

Here was my entree - fettuccine with arugula rapini,  fennel sausage, roasted Hatch chile, and Pecorino Romano. The homemade noodles, silky and cooked perfectly, were dressed in a light cream sauce, and all of the flavors of this dish came together beautifully. It was one gorgeous winter pasta dish.

My meal included dessert, a Mexican chocolate bread pudding topped with salted caramel sauce. I can honestly say that I came close to licking every plate clean this evening, this one included.

As we finished our meal, the bill came in a vintage book that we were invited to sign. The comments left by other diners were charming remnants of pleasant dinner conversation, good company, and excellent meals. Ours: "Thanks for a memorable meal, Mulvaney's! Can't wait to come back."

Dickens Fair and Russian Food

I haven't posted in some time for a variety of reasons. Reason #1: the first trimester of my first pregnancy hit me hard and I slept during most of my free time for October-December.

Reason #2: I was so thrilled to post on my trip to the Dicken's Fair in late December, only to find out that the Blogger Ap was less than efficient at importing the numerous pictures I took from my cell phone. I spent about an hour trying to make it work and then became so discouraged that I had to take a break from blogging in order to re-group.

Now it is early January, and I wanted to share just one picture from the amazing Dicken's Fair. This San Francisco Bay-area event is held every year during the holidays and constitutes a sort of Disneyland for book lovers. My husband smiled as I wandered around in awe, saying things like, "Look, there's Ebenezer Scrooge and a shackled Jacob Marley!... A Christmas ball with waltzing lessons!...Ooh, roasted chestnuts and Cornish pasties!... Look, an antique bookseller, and there's a shop selling real corsets!" (At over $200, I don't think I'll be lacing one up anytime soon, not to mention they aren't too maternity-friendly.)

In this picture, actors depict Christmastime at the Dickens' family's home, complete with roast goose dinner on the table and a cozy gathering in the parlor:

We loved the Fair so much, we can't wait to return next year. Mark that one off my list of activities to accomplish this year!

Another item that I checked off my "30 before 30" list relates to the goal of trying 3 new kinds of food. I'm a fairly adventurous diner, so I had to think hard on this one. One of my ideas involving a venture into Russian/Ukrainian food as found at the local restaurant Firebird. They serve a plentiful lunch buffet, where I started with a chunky, hot bowl of borscht topped with cream sour cream, then moved on to an overwhelming array of hot foods and cold salads. I walked away from Buffet Round One with the following heaping plate:

Bounty in the Backyard

Here's a glimpse of the bounty in our backyard at the moment:

Our oranges are finally ready to harvest! Yeah! I tried one this morning and it was good! Looking forward to finding some fun uses for all these navel oranges. Ideas?

Fava beans are shooting up like rockets!

Lettuce, kale, and beets are doing well. And calendula is still going strong and giving us lots of sunshine-colored flowers to keep us in good cheer.

This weekend we also planted two kinds of raspberries to add to our blueberries and strawberries! Can't wait to enjoy all of this fresh fruit from the backyard.

Apple Hill Cake

My good people: Today I realized that I have been holding out on you. Not intentionally, but more due to a lapse of memory. You see, I assumed that I had already shared with you my family's favorite recipe for apple cake, which is in my mind, the best ever. I have shared several other forays into the apple cake realm, but not the one recipe that our family always makes year after year.  This recipe is so well-loved, I assumed it was put on the blog long ago, but when I went to look it up today on the blog before using up the last of the apples I picked last month, I saw my folly.

 I shall correct this oversight immediately! To me, this will always be the king of apple cakes. It is impeccable in its simplicity, the instructions being easy enough for a child to make it. (I made it as a child many times myself!)

 In appearance, it is humble and unassuming, but the texture is sheer genius - crackly crisp on top with moist, juicy apple-laced cake underneath. The smell that fills your kitchen while it bakes, that spiced apple one - it is heaven on earth. Oh, and the name comes from the local Apple Hill farms that are a popular autumn destination. The farms sell little cookbooks and this is one of their signature recipes.

I made the cake tonight with whole wheat flour and it worked quite well. I also halved the recipe and baked for 40 minutes in a square baking dish.

Apple Hill Cake

Mix:
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs

Add:
4 c. diced apples (6 or 7)
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg

Bake in a 9x13 greased pan at 350 for 40-60 minutes, when a tester inserted into the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Nautical Baby Shower: My First Ever

This weekend I was very pleased to co-host my first baby shower ever. The guest of honor: My oldest friend, due on Christmas Day with a baby boy. The nursery theme was to be blue and nautical, so I teamed up with my friend's mom (known for her elaborate themed parties), my mom, and another friend (they all were good friends in high school) to throw a blue, sailing-themed shower. (My friend's husband sails on San Francisco Bay, hence the theme.) We gained so much inspiration from the Internet and Pinterest that I felt I should contribute our own twist on the theme.

Let's start at the entrance - Game #1 on the left, Guess the number of M&Ms in the Cookie Jar Mix. It's a mason jar filled with a homemade cookie mix, with a bottle topper that makes it look like a bottle. Our winner guessed the exact number - 350- and won the cookie mix (of course)!

Opposite entrance: "Pearls of Wisdom" station - Guests write advice for the new mother-to-be on white paper circular "pearls".

 This was an early afternoon affair, and lunch was to be served. Dining tables were set with navy tablecloths, with dishes of Goldfish crackers, netting, seashells...

And candles with white flowers and napkins. The napkin rings were tied with navy twine and each had a white Lifesaver candy tied to it.

Next up: The "Mess Hall".

Adorable "Baby in the Pram" fruit platter, by our artistic friend.

Sailboat deviled eggs on the left, veggie platter on the right with dip in bell pepper "boats".

Chicken salad croissant sandwiches ("chicken of the sea") with mini shrimp cocktails on the right:

Shrimp Louie salad...

Salmon-cream cheese "sand dollars":

Trio of sandwiches...

Homemade clam dip... in a crab. Whatever!

One of my contributions: a variety of blue creme sodas with striped straws - on ice:

All the food was labeled - This one is an "East Indian Artichoke Rice Salad".

After our lunch, we retired to the living room to open gifts:

The invitations had announced, "Ahoy, it's a boy!"

How detailed oriented is my friend's mother? She looked up the actual nautical flags to spell out the baby's name: Liam. I never would have guessed that this decoration spelled anything, much less his name!

After a competitive but friendly game of "Baby Jeopardy" and "Baby Gift Bingo" during the opening of the gifts, it was time for dessert.

Butter cookies that look like life preservers:

My mom made these "beachy" lemon cupcakes:

And I made the "Sailboat Chocolate Cupcake Tower".

  Last, but not least, hand-stamped napkins. Whew, I never would have thought of such a thing!

 In the end, it was a perfect shower. Fun, great food, intimate, and entertaining, with many wonderful people to meet and enjoy. I felt very fortunate to be able to work with so many talented and creative women to celebrate this moment in my friend's life.