… as MT sets out to prove Mark wrong
MT’s raw ingredients include zucchini, onions, eggs, ricotta, bread crumbs, butter, lemon juice, herbs and, for the top of the Savory Vegetable Cheesecake, tomatoes. (Somehow the carrots, garlic and mozzarella didn’t make their way into the photo. But they did make their way into the cheesecake.)
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
The Savory Vegetable Cheesecake is topped with tomato slices that have been dredged in fine breadcrumbs.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
As I pondered how to use some lovely green and yellow zucchini from the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market a few days ago, I told Mark I’d narrowed my choices to two: A really simple dish whose ingredients were basically olive oil and vegetables, or a much richer recipe called Savory Vegetable Cheesecake.
“Of course you’ll do the simple one,” Mark predicted.
Truth be told, I wanted to make the simple one, but his words sounded like a challenge. So I decided to surprise him.
“Nope,” I said. “I’m making the complicated one. The cheesecake. Spring form pan and everything.”
Soon I was grating zucchini and carrots, mincing onions, crushing garlic, and mixing sauteed vegetables into a cheesecake base of ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan and eggs.
Mark loved the finished product. He especially appreciated the tangy flavor of the lemon juice, and praised me for “stepping out of (my) comfort zone.” My mom liked it, too, and requested seconds.
When I took some of the cheesecake to the newsroom taste testers, I reheated a small sample for reporter Margaret Roarty, who was pleased with the blend of flavors.
“You can tell there’s a lot of cheese in it,” she said, adding the tiny slice I’d given her was just the right size. I agreed with her that you’d have a healthier meal with a small portion of the cheesecake, perhaps accompanied by a big salad, as opposed to a big slab of the cheesecake.
Later in the day, I approached sportswriter John Erzar and told him I had vegetable cheesecake in the work refrigerator, but could heat some up for him.
“Do you have to heat it?” he asked.
Pausing for a moment I realized that, no, I didn’t have to heat it.
Later, Erz admitted he liked his chilled serving, but added “the whole concept seems wrong, to call it a cheesecake. It’s not a dessert.”
OK, that’s why cookbook writer Mollie Katzen made sure to call it “savory,” to stress that it’s not sweet.
The last newsroom person to give it a try was part-time page designer Briauna Robinson who declared it was “a good balance, nothing overpowers the other flavors.” I was prepared to heat it for her, but she also liked it cold.
Here is the recipe from “The Enchanted Broccoli Forest” vegetarian cookbook. I followed the recipe closely, except for grabbing a handful of fresh herbs from our garden instead of using little half teaspoonfuls of (presumably dried) basil and oregano.
Savory Vegetable Cheesecake
3 cups packed, coarsely grated, zucchini
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup minced onion
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated carrot
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon each basil, oregano
1/4 cup packed freshly minced parsley
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 cups ricotta cheese
1 packed cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 large eggs, at room temperature
freshly ground black pepper
2 medium-size tomatoes sliced into rounds, then each round sliced in half to form D’s, dredged in 3 to 4 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs
1. Set the grated zucchini in a colander over a sink or a bowl. Salt lightly and let stand 15 minutes. Squeeze out all excess moisture.
2. In a large, heavy skillet, saute the onions in butter with 1/2 teaspoon salt. After several minutes add garlic, carrots, zucchini, flour and herbs. Keep stirring, and cook over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in parsley and lemon.
3. Beat together cheeses and eggs (the best result comes from using an electric mixer at high speed) until very well blended. (Use a large bowl for this). Add the sauteed vegetables and mix well. Season to taste with black pepper, and more salt if necessary.
4. Turn into the prepared pan (a 10-inch spring form pan, buttered, in which you have sprinkled a small handful of fine breadcrumbs). Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 1/2 hour. Then interrupt its baking experience momentarily to decorate it with the dredged tomato D’s.
5. Return the cake to the oven, reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake another 30 minutes. Turn off the oven, open the door and leave the cake in there for 15 additional minutes. Then let it cool 10 to 15 minutes more, out of the oven, before cutting and serving.
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