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If you make it with more passion than they do, it's your recipe. If you make it better than they do, it was always your yours.

I've got a recipe for savory cheesecake I've been meaning to post (supposed to be served as a starter, but I can eat the whole thing).

I picked it up off Come Dine With Me years ago (which is my guilty pleasure as far as watching tv goes).

I like your thinking Andre! I do alter it slightly they make 3 cakes and sandwich them all together, I just make 1 cake cause I only ever had 1 cake tin but now i have 2 of equal sizes so i may make 2 instead next time. So its practically a completely different recipe really

Savoury cheesecake! I really want that recipe, please????

We have a dinner party tonight and I could bring it, if I have the ingredients.

SMOKED SALMON CHEESE CAKE

Serves up to 8 as a first course

Ingredients (for the base):
3 oz water biscuits
3 oz butter
3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients (for the filling):
2 large eggs, separated
8 oz soft full fat cheese
Grated rind and juice of ½ lemon
6fl oz crème fraiche
1 oz powdered gelatine
6 oz smoked salmon, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Garnish - mayonnaise
Fresh parsley, chopped

Method
Starting with the base, wash and finely chop the parsley. Crush the biscuits with a rolling pin until there are no large pieces, but they are not yet simply a powder. Melt the butter, remove from the heat and stir in the crushed biscuits. Season generously with pepper. Stir in the chopped parsley. Take an 8” baking tin with a loose base, lightly oil the interior and spread the biscuit mixture evenly, smoothing off with the back of a spoon. Refrigerate.

Separate the eggs and set aside the whites. Put the yolks in a large bowl and add the cheese, lemon rind and juice, crème fraiche and a seasoning of black pepper. Beat until smooth.

Put about 4 tablespoons of cold water in a small saucepan and sprinkle the gelatine on top. Leave for a few minutes until the gelatine forms a sort of slushy cake, then heat gently until it is all melted. Fold the gelatine solution into the cheese and egg mixture, distributing them evenly. Beat the egg whites to the ‘stiff peaks’ stage and then fold very gently into the filling. Immediately turn the mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing off the top. Refrigerate for several hours.

When ready to serve, ease the sides of the cheesecake from the tin and use the base to release the cheesecake. Spread the sides of the cheesecake generously with mayonnaise and press the chopped parsley into it until you have green sides to the cheesecake. Serve in wedges like any other cheesecake.

Oh wow. That sounds gorgeous!

Thank you, Maureen!

I need creme fraiche and gelatine. Argh. Guess I won't be making it until after Christmas. :(

Now that my laptop is working I can rescue my lentil & bacon soup recipe.

Wow, Smoked Salmon Cheesecake... that's a hard act to follow. I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but here goes : )

Buffalo Chicken Dip

- 1 cup shredded chicken (I either just cut chicken up very finely, or put it in the food processor)
- 1 8oz package of cream cheese
- 1/2 to 1 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce (start with 1/2 cup to be safe and add more at the end depending on taste. I used about 3/4 yesterday)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or a Mexican blend, etc)
- 1 cup blue cheese dressing (you can add more to make it less hot too - again, add more at the end depending on taste) . I also add read blue cheese to enhance the flavor.

Mix all ingredients together (you can microwave for a couple minutes to get the cream cheese to spread if it's not soft enough). Cook at low heat for 10-15 minutes or until the mixture is bubbling. I typically try to serve it in a crockpot so it stays hot, but if you're eating it right away it should be fine. Scoop Tostitos are the best, but I also love it with celery.

Another savoury cheesecake recipe for you Patti...

Baked Roquefort Cheesecake
(or other favourite blue cheese)

for the base -
200g oatcakes and
100g melted butter
Crush the oatcakes and mix with the butter, then press into a 25cm springform tin and chill.

For the topping -
700g ricotta
300g full fat soft cheese
4 eggs
200g Roquefort
200g dried figs, chopped

Heat oven to GM4/ 180deg C.
Blend together the ricotta and cream cheese. Add eggs one at a time. Mix in the crumbled blue cheese and figs, a bit less enthusiastically! Spoon the cheesey mixture over the base and cook for about 1 hour or until the top is pale golden and the cheesey mix is set, but still with a bit of a wobble.
Good with really nice pickled onions and a watercress salad. About a million calories per slice.

Oh that does sound lovely Rosemary (and a lot less faffy than mine). I do love blue cheese.

;-)

I'm so glad I bumped this thread! Thank you Chris and Rosemary!

we havent really been talking about food so much recently have we?

Not if you don't consider custard to be food. We must remedy that.
We're off to dinner at a friends tonight. Seems we're having miso soup with scallops, baked fish curry and green tea ice cream. Sounds yummy!

Never tried green tea ice cream, but DANG, the rest sounds AWESOME. If it's good, see if you can "squeeze" the recipe from the host (tell 'em it's for a qood cause... my stomach - lol).

Will do, Chris. She's a fantastic cook. Oh she gave a fantastic pasta sauce recipe that's almost as nice as Geoff's. Calls for an entire bottle of red wine and takes all day to cook. I made it for the huge lasagne I made for the hallowe'en party. I'll post it tomorrow.

Thanks Patti, I'm salivating already.

Maureen (Mews) wrote: "SMOKED SALMON CHEESE CAKE"

Spectacular, Maureen. Drool.

Back when smoked salmon was still a delicacy, Douglas Sutherland, the author of The English Gentleman, gave me the most delicious recipe for leftover scraps of smoked salmon:

Cut into strips, then just stir into your scrambled eggs, the way you usually make them.

He also claimed it was a hangover cure but, despite trying many times, I've never found that it cures hangovers...

I am making mince pies tonight. A wee tip my mum gave me was add some sultana's to your sweet mince (if you buy it premade) to bulk it out and make it even more juicy :o)

It's better still if you make your own mincemeat Jud - dead easy if you have a mincer and you can add things like apricots too, if you like them.

Dinner last night was wonderful. However, we did get through rather too much wine so today will be a bit blurry. A friend took photos which I'll post when she gets around to emailing them to me.

Blurry? Lost your contact lenses?
Blurry's ok - headachey's nasty.

Bailey's type drink.
Liquidise 1 small wine glass full of granulated sugar and 1tsp instant coffee then add 1 large tin of tip top and a glass of cooking whisky, mix. pour in a clean bottle and enjoy.
If you like that sort of thing. Personally I think it is disgusting but it was useful when my children were teenagers and wanted to got to parties with cheap booze.

Thanks Mo,how long would it keep?do you store it in the fridge?

It never lasted long enough to store. Personally I can't stand Bailey's so am unlikely to like an imitation. But it seemed to work ok and for a houseful of teenagers it went down well. How long does that tip top stuff last once out of the tin... I would reckon 3-4 days.

Oooo I have a Baileys recipe too. Actually I shall get some festive recipes out tomorrow to share.

what is Tip Top?

Ignite wrote: "It's better still if you make your own mincemeat Jud - dead easy if you have a mincer and you can add things like apricots too, if you like them."

I told my mum I wanted to but she said it would be too hard and I would have to get suet... personally I didnt think it would be that difficult if I knew where to go to get it but I don't know where to go

I'm wondering what tip top is too. Condensed milk?

Tip Top is (or was) a 'carnation milk' type of thing. Can' be doing with it myself.

Suet is in most baking sections in the big supermarkets Jud.

Lemon Squares

1 cup flour
1/2 cup margarine
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tsp grated lemon peel
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350F

Mix flour, marg and icing sugar. Press into ungreased square pan building 1/2 up the sides.
Bake 20 minutes

Beat sugar, lemon peel, juice, baking powder, salt and eggs with electric mixer about 3 minutes.
Pour over crust.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until no indentation marks remain when touched lightly in the centre.

Best Cookies!

1 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Cream marg ( or butter) with sugar, add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Mix in sifted dry ingredients.

Now the fun bit.

You can roll the dough into a log about 2 inches in diameter, wrap well with cling film, chill, then cut 1/2 inch slices. Arrange on baking sheets, sprinkle with castor sugar then bake at 350F until the edges are golden brown. Lazy way and you can do just a few at a time. The dough will keep in the fridge for several days or you can freeze it. Just be sure to thaw it completely before using it.

You can separate the dough into bits and add food colouring or you can roll it out after it's chilled in the fridge for a bit, cut into shapes and ice and decorate them. Sprinkles! Pretty!

They also make great sandwich biscuits. Just slap some jam between them.

Pat (Scorpio) wrote: "what is Tip Top?"

Not sure some sort of milk stuff . I looked it up as I thought it might no longer be produced but Sainsbury online does it.

Thanks Mo and Patti.

Bailleys. Do not use good whisky or whiskey, certainly not a good malt. I suppose the whiskey is proper as it is Irish but get cheap stuff. Black Bottle is out too as it is too peaty.Not well up on Irish I am afraid, since my cousin's hubby took me out, 20 odd years ago, after Offaly won the all Ireland Hurling Final and got me fu' on guiness and whiskey. Not a good mixture . Never touched a drop of either since.

We are not whisky drinkers either Mo,I have some dreggs in various bottles that I plan to use up,will give them a try,if unpleasant I will just put in cakes.HeHe.

Not sure if I posted this already but it's worth a festive re-post anyway.

Rum Balls

1 1/2 cups Graham wafer crumbs (you can use digestives)
1/4 cup dark rum
2 cups ground walnuts or ground almonds
1/4 cup liquid honey

Combine all ingredients, shape into one inch balls, roll in powdered sugar.
Refrigerate until firm. Store in airtight container.

Another Bailey's Recipe

2 eggs (UV treated if possible)
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup rye or brandy
1 tbsp instant coffee
1 tsp instant chocolate drink mix

Blend together and chill

My Gramma's Apple Pie

For each pie mix together 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup milk and 3 tbsp flour.

Pour over pie shell that has been filled with sliced apples. Dot with butter and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.

Bake at 350F until golden brown and apples are soft.
The pies may run over a bit so protect the bottom of your oven for easy clean up.

Apple Cake

2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup veg oil
2 tbsp orange juice
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
8 apples peeled and sliced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup icing sugar

Sprinkle apples with 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon in the bottom of a 10 x 10 inch baking pan.
Beat eggs, 1 cup sugar and vanilla. Add oil, mix. Add orange juice and sifted dry ingredients. Beat until smooth. Spoon over apples.

Bake at 350F until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Cool, sprinkle with icing sugar, serve

Wow Patti,these look so good,I am going to try all of them before Christmas. Thank you so much.

Patti, help me out here please, I struggle with American cup measurements in recipes. When it says butter etc - sorry to be thick but it worries me, how do you measure it.? (Dont laugh)

This can't quite count as a recipe, but its pure indulgence.... so I only have it in very small amounts

Brown sugar (the soft crumbly type)
Butter
Rum
Oats

You'll have to experiment with quantities to see what works. But you probably won't care!

Put the sugar, butter and rum together in the microwave and heat until it is bubbling (less than a minute for my effort)

Stir until it is thoroughly mixed.

Pour in the oats.

Eat.

Gingerlily (lovable author) wrote: "This can't quite count as a recipe, but its pure indulgence.... so I only have it in very small amounts

Brown sugar (the soft crumbly type)
Butter
Rum
Oats

You'll have to experiment with quantiti..."

Doesn't the rum catch fire?

No, not from less than a minute in the microwave. And its mixed in with the sugar.

It's bitter cold here now, tomorrow seems a good day to start soup making and fill the freezer with portions of homemade soup. Must get some more containers.

I also need to take a look through all the recipes - I seem to think that there were some gluten free recipes that I can pass onto my niece - she has had tests & is waiting for the results but has found that following a gluten free diet has helped so she might stick with it anyway.

Mhairi follows a gluten free diet Janet. She'd be good to talk to.

Wow Patti, the two recipes (lemon squares and the butter cookies) look AWESOME! And just in time for Christmas.

One question: in the cookie recipe, you use margarine. Have you tried using butter in place of it? I'm just wondering if the margarine adds something different (better) to the flavor or texture.

I use margarine because Dave is allergic to dairy. Butter would be better.

Oh I must post my shortbread recipe...it's melt in your mouth yummy!

Shortbread

1/2 cup cornstarch (I think you lot call it cornflour?)
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup flour
3/4 cup butter

Mix well, roll into a one inch log, wrap well in cling film, chill, slice in 1/2 inch rounds

Bake at 350F until light golden brown