Stilton Cheesecake with Rhubarb Compote |
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Prep Time: 75 Minutes Cook Time: 465 Minutes |
Ready In: 540 Minutes Servings: 8 |
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While in Vancouver, we had a wonderful meal at Diva at the Met. The star of the show was the Stilton cheesecake. Could you persuade the chef to part with the recipe? asks Mark Horne of Laurel, Mississippi. Editors' note: Pairing Stilton and rhubarb may sound like a joke, but we had to try it. It turns out that the joke's on us the combination is terrific. Chef Michael Noble caramelizes the top with a blowtorch, but we think the cheesecake is also delicious without the crackly crust. Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour |
1/4 cup sugar |
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and softened |
1/2 lb stilton, rind discarded and cheese crumbled (1 cup) |
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened |
1 cup sugar |
1/3 cup all-purpose flour |
3 large eggs |
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream |
2 teaspoons vanilla |
1/2 cup port |
1/2 cup sugar |
24 pink peppercorns, coarsely crushed |
2 pounds trimmed rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (6 cups) |
3 tablespoons sugar for caramel topping (optional) |
Directions:
1. Make shortbread crust: Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Blend together flour and sugar with an electric mixer. Add butter and blend until mixture resembles coarse meal (it will not form a dough). Transfer to a buttered 24-centimeter springform pan and press evenly onto bottom. Bake in middle of oven until pale golden, about 30 minutes, then cool in pan on a rack.
3. Reduce temperature to 300°F.
4. Make filling: Beat together crumbled Stilton, cream cheese, and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed. Beat in flour and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in sour cream and vanilla, then pour filling over cooled crust in pan.
5. Bake cheesecake in middle of oven until puffed and pale golden around edge, about 1 hours. Transfer cake in pan to rack and run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Chill, covered, until cold, at least 4 hours. Remove side of pan and transfer cake to a plate.
6. Make compote while cake is cooling: Boil Port, 1/2 cup sugar, and peppercorns in a 12-inch nonstick skillet, stirring until sugar is dissolved, until reduced to about 1/2 cup, 2 to 3 minutes. Add rhubarb and gently stir to coat. Simmer rhubarb, stirring gently once after 5 minutes, until just tender but not falling apart, about 10 minutes, and transfer to a bowl. Chill compote, covered, until cold, at least 4 hours.
7. Make optional caramel topping: Just before serving, sprinkle tablespoons sugar evenly over cheesecake and heat with a blowtorch, moving flame back and forth just over sugar until evenly melted and caramelized.
8. Cooks' note: Cheesecake and compote can be chilled up to 2 days before caramelizing top of cheesecake and serving.
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