French Fridays: Savoury cheesecake with ratatouille

Happy (French) Friday! I’m in the last throes of signing off on bits and pieces on my manuscript (we’re at the index!) and starting to think ahead to marketing and publicity (choosing recipes to share with media outlets eventually) and my head has been deep in recipes this week. While I love the baking component of the book, I’m so pleased with the savoury recipe selection, especially that I managed to squeeze in three different variations of ratatouille (to cater to different levels of knife skills) – possibly my favourite French vegetable dish! There are so many ways you can enjoy ratatouille (over pasta, baked in a quiche, as an upside down tart, as part of a stir fry etc). Something I like to do, however is use vegetables as part of dishes that many people think of as being only sweet – clafoutis, for example or even as a cheesecake topping…

That’s right, you read correctly – a cheesecake topping! In 2013 I shared a recipe over on the Real Women of Philadelphia site for a savoury cheesecake with a ratatouille topping which was one of my favourite savoury iterations of a sweet classic. Today, I’m sharing the full recipe here for those of you who need a little sunshine in these last grey days of February…

Yield: four 4-inch cheesecakes

Savoury cheesecake

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Savoury cheesecake. The topping possibilities are endless!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Inactive Time 10 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups panko breadcrumbs
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 250g Philadelphia soft cream cheese
• 200g 0% plain Greek yoghurt
• 2 eggs
• 20g Parmesan cheese, grated finely
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325˚F.
2. Pour the melted butter over the panko breadcrumbs and mix quickly to completely combine.
3. Divide the butter/crumb mixture evenly over four 4-inch springform pans and press the crumb mixture tightly down with your fingers.
4. Bake the crumb crusts for 10 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and place in fridge or freezer whilst you prepare the filling.
6. Decrease the heat to 300˚F.
7. Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or electric hand beaters, beat the cream cheese with the Greek yoghurt until creamy and smooth.
8. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly to combine.
9. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the Parmesan.
10. Add salt and pepper to taste.
11. Divide the cream cheese mixture evenly in the four springform pans and rap the pans on a countertop to remove any air bubbles and to ensure an even bake.
12. Place pans on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes.
13. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
14. Run a knife around the cheesecakes before you remove them from the springform pans.

did you make this recipe?

please leave a comment or review on the blog or share a photo and tag me on Instagram @eatlivtravwrite !

Oh, and the ratatouille? Use you favourite recipe (until my book comes out LOL!) or if you’re game, here’s Julia Child’s recipe to try!

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Disclosure: I received compensation for developing a series of posts for the Real Women of Philadelphia website in 2013. The recipes are no longer available so I am updating my old posts with links to the full recipes, now hosted on my site.

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MY BOOK! In the French kitchen with kids releases July 31, 2018! Click here for pre-order details!