CHEESECAKE ON MY MIND

Quesada pasiega, a Spanish cheesecake.

I’ve had cheesecake on the brain. Not sure why. But instead of indulging in a rich, New York-style cheesecake, I decided to make a Spanish recipe, quesada pasiega, which is more like a cheese custard and ever-so-easy to put together.

“Pasiega” comes from the Valley of Pas in Cantabria, northern “green” Spain, which is famous for its cheeses. Traditionally, this dessert is made with fresh cheese curd (cuajado), before it is shaped and cured on the way to becoming cheese. But it is easy to adapt to any sort of fresh, soft cheese—fromage blanc, ricotta, requesón, quark, unsalted cottage cheese, thick Greek yogurt.

I used requesón, similar to ricotta, a soft curd cheese tasting of fresh milk, instead of Pasiego cheese curds for this cheesecake.

 Please note that this recipe has one very exotic ingredient—butter! If you are a regular follower of my blogs about Spanish cooking you may have noticed (or, perhaps not) that butter never appears in the recipes. In Spanish cooking, and in my own kitchen, olive oil is the fat of choice. However, I just happened to have a tub of butter left  behind by a guest. And, as Cantabria is a land of verdant meadows, rolling hills and pastures where cows graze, butter and cheese are part of the region’s cuisine.

Bread crumbs give this custard consistency. Use 4 or 5 slices of day-old bread, crusts removed. Break the bread into pieces and pulse in a food processor until the bread is reduced to medium crumbs. You should have about 2 cups of crumbs. (Some recipes for quesada call for flour instead of bread crumbs.)

The quesada is good served with a fruit compote (see the recipe for pears in sweet wine here) or strawberry puree.

Quesada pasiega cut into squares for serving.

Cheese Custard Squares
Quesada Pasiega

1 cup milk
2 strips lemon zest
2-inch cinnamon stick
2 cups fresh bread crumbs
3 tablespoons softened butter
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups fromage blanc, ricotta or other unsalted fresh cheese
Cinnamon to garnish (optional)

Combine the milk, lemon zest and cinnamon stick in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Let cool to lukewarm. Remove zest and cinnamon.

Set aside 3 tablespoons of bread crumbs. Place the remaining crumbs in a food processor and pour over the milk. Process until smooth.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter a 13X9 inch rectangular baking pan and sprinkle with the reserved 3 tablespoons of bread crumbs.

Cream the butter in a mixing bowl (or add directly to the food processor). Beat in the sugar, then the eggs, one by one. Beat in the the fresh cheese. Stir in the bread and milk mixture.

Pour the batter into the baking pan. Bake until the custard is set and a skewer comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Allow to cool in the pan. Loosen the edges and turn out onto a work surface. Cut the custard into pieces approximately 3 by 2 inches and arrange them on a serving platter. Dust with cinnamon, if desired.

CHARLOTTE, HERE'S THE RECIPE YOU WANTED

My good friend, artist Charlotte Gordon (see her work here), was a recent dinner guest at my house. She loved the dessert, a Spanish take on cheesecake, and asked me for the recipe. So, here it is, for all to enjoy.

                                                                                   (Photo by Gerry Dawes)

Called quesada or tarta cuajada, this cheese tart comes from the northern region of Cantabria, famous for its cow’s milk cheeses. It is made with soft, fresh cheese, before the curds have been pressed or salted. You could use unsalted cottage cheese, beaten smooth; ricotta; fromage blanc; or yogurt that has been drained in a colander lined with cheesecloth for an hour.

I substituted Greek yogurt—already drained and thickened—and cream cheese.

I made a crumb crust by pulverizing leftover Spanish Christmas cookies, mantecados and polvorones, with their scents of cinnamon, almond and sesame, and mixing the crumbs with an egg yolk. You can use any favorite crumb crust or try the olive oil crust in my recipe below.

The sliced pears are lovely for winter desserts. But the cheesecake is equally good without them. A tart fruit sauce—of apricots or raspberries—also goes nicely with the cheese tart.

Incidentally, for those minimalist cooks out there, I make this “cheesecake”, without the crust and without the pears, in individual glass cups and cooked in the microwave (with a vented microwave cover; at medium power, for 2 minutes X 3, turning cups a quarter-turn after each 2-minute interval, and allowing to rest 5 minutes before removing).

Got any more recipe requests? Charlotte suggested a "dial-a-recipe," so, instead of phoning me when she's searching for a recipe, she can request it on the blog. Maybe this could work---

Cheese-Custard Tart with Pears
Quesada con Peras

Olive oil makes a crisp-bottomed pastry that contrasts beautifully with the smooth cheese-custard and pear filling.

1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour   
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
pinch of aniseed
1 ¾ cups sugar, divided
4 eggs
½ cup olive oil
2 bosc pears, peeled, cored and sliced
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup cream cheese, softened
1 cup Greek yogurt

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

For the crust: Combine the 1 ½ cups flour, baking soda, salt and ½ teaspoon cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Add the aniseeds and ½ cup sugar. Beat one egg and beat in the oil. Mix this into the dry ingredients.

Use fingers to press the crust mixture into the bottom and 2 inches up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

For the filling: Combine the sliced pears with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and ¼ cup sugar. Reserve 4 slices of pear. Spead the remaining pears in one layer on top of the crust.

Beat the cream cheese at medium speed until smooth. Beat in the yogurt and the remaining 1 cup of sugar. Add ½ tablespoon of lemon juice and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Beat in remaining 1 tablespoon of flour and 3 eggs, one by one.

Carefully pour custard mixture over the pears in pan. Place reserved sliced pear on top.

Bake until custard is set, about 75 minutes. Allow to partially cool before removing springform sides. Serve the tart warm or chilled.