Savoury Feta Cheesecake

Vegetarian

The savoury cheesecake is a real winner.

Feta cheese lightened with fromage frais makes a lovely cool summer cheesecake, just right for a light lunch served with a salad or Spiced Pickled Pears, see recipe below.  Vegetarians might like to know that a vegetarian parmesan-style cheese is available from Bookhams.com

The Delia Online Cookery School: For perfect egg whites every time, watch our video. Just press the recipe image to play.

A picture of Delia's Vegetarian Collection

This recipe is from Delia's Vegetarian Collection. Serves 6-8. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see questions Lindsey has answered on this recipe


  • method
  • Ingredients

Method

Begin by putting the breadcrumbs in a bowl and adding the cheese, the melted butter and a seasoning of pepper (no salt because the cheese is quite salty).

Now press the crumb mixture into the base of the prepared tin, pressing it firmly flat with the back of a spatula. Then pop it into the oven on a high shelf and bake for 15 minutes or until it is crisp and toasted golden brown. Then remove from the oven. Now make the filling by first breaking up the feta cheese with a fork and then adding this to a food processor, along with the curd cheese and fromage frais, and blend until completely smooth. Then transfer to a bowl and stir in the chives, spring onions and some freshly milled pepper. Next, measure the lemon juice and 2 fl oz (55 ml) water into a small saucepan, sprinkle in the gelatine, stir to dissolve the granules and then leave to one side.

Then in a separate clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to the soft-peak stage. Now heat the gelatine mixture to boiling point and add it to the cheese; use an electric hand whisk or stir quickly with a wooden spoon to combine it thoroughly. Then follow this with the whisked egg whites, first folding 1 tablespoon of the whites into the cheese mixture to loosen it, then stirring in the remaining whites. You can watch how to whisk egg whites by clicking on our Cookery School Video on this page. Now immediately pour the whole lot on to the cooled base, cover with clingfilm and transfer the cheesecake to the fridge to chill and set until needed, preferably overnight.

Note: This recipe contains raw eggs.

Additional

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C).

Using a fan-assisted oven? Click here

Equipment

You will also need an 8 inch (20 cm) round cake tin with a loose base, lightly oiled. If it is less than 2 inches (5 cm) deep, line the sides with baking parchment to give a depth of 2 inches (5 cm).

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