Baked cheesecake by Gordon Ramsay

Super easy and delicious cheesecake!!

Serves for 6-8

Ingredients

550g cream cheese (I used 600g, because philadephia cheese are from 300g)
160g sugar
3 eggs
2 tbps flour (0,5 dl flour)
1 lemon
strawberries

Preparation

Can't be easier!! In a bowl, mix the cream cheese and sugar. Then add slowly the eggs (slightly beaten).

Once you get an homogeneous batter add the flour and keep mixing, then add the zest of 1 lemon.

Preheat the oven at 180ºC. Grease the cake tray and place to oven for 35min. I read that you have to place a mug with water in the oven as the cake not to break, I did it and worked.

Let it cool down, and garnish with strawberries.

Here Gordon Ramsay's recipe, I didn't put raspberries. 

Hope you like it!

Mr South

Coca de recapte

Hi!

Today I would like to share another typical Catalan dish, coca de recapte; it is a sort of catalan version of pizza, meaning coca (cake), de recapte ( for provision or to gather supplies).

The coca de recapte is nothing else but a bread olive oil dought with whatever you can find to put in top, most typically with escalivada and salted hearring or sausage. As the same words says, this was an easy food, that could be eaten during next days (it is as good cold than recently baked hot) and you didn´t need to refrigerate it. As well it is said that in the old days, in the small villages of rural Catalonia, the coca de recapte it was done by gathering some spare ingredients from few houses/families and going to the village bakery to cook it. So there is where the name comes.

Either the name comes from, this is a super easy meal, ideal for having many guests at home, or for a day out or picnic. As well, you can make a big batch of dough and freeze it and will stay perfect for few months.

Ingredients

• 10dl bread flour (we use flour with 11% protein)
• 3dl water
• 10g fresh yest
• 2tsp salt
• 0,75dl virgin olive oil

Preparation

Mix everything but the olive oil in a big bowl, use better slight warm water, work it with hands till it is a big dough, and then in a clean surface work it till you achieve an homogeneous dough. Keep in mind that this recipe it has low water content, so in the beginning might seem it is too dry, nevertheless, because not all flours are the same, if you can´t achieve a nice homogeneous dough, add bits of water.

Let it rest for 3h in a warm place covered with a clean cloth.

After the 3h, add the olive oil and work the dough again, let it rest for 30min.

Now the dough is ready to be cooked. You can cut the dough in four parts and, if you like it really thin, with this you will have 4 oven tray size coques (plural of coca).

If you want to freeze it, extend the dough and when it is ready for the ingredients, place it on top of a baking paper and roll it, then put it to a freezing bag and it can go straigh to freezer!

In the pictures you will see below, we cooked two coques, and froze the other two, one with spinach and tomato, and other one with onion. As I said earlier, the most typical way is with escalivada which it tastes amazing, but for me, the most delicious one is the one with onion but adding a bit of smoked pancetta.

For making the onion it is really simple, cut onions really thing and spread them around the dough, if you want add smoked pancetta, but otherwise just add salt, pepper and olive oil and 15 min at 200°C in the oven and it is ready!!

For the spinach, really simple too, in a hot pan with a bit of olive oil, saute the fresh spinach, when they start to shrink add salt and pepper and sunflower seeds if you have them. After saute the spinach for 3-5 min they will be ready so spread them in the dough and cut some tomato to put in top and 15min into oven at 200°C and it is ready too!

About the timing in the oven, it depens on the thickness of each coca, when the dough changes to slight toasted brown colour it is ready! Of course I rolled the dought really thin, and with that I did 4, but it depens on how thick you like it you will get more or less coques.

Hope you like it

Mr South 

Empanada

We bring you today a nice recipe, empanada, a typical dish of the north-west part of Spain. It is normally eaten day after to be cooked. There is two versions of this dish, the fish based and the meat based, we are going to be cooked the fish type but not the most typical version, which requires conger, we will use tuna.

For the meat type of empanada you have to use chorizo, and pork filet sliced.

Ingredients

• onion
• carrot
• red pepper
• zucchini
• tomatoes
• tuna in a can
• Base for salty cakes
• Egg 
• Ready made pie dough, 400g

Preparation

Slice finely the onion, carrot and red pepper and put it to saute in a pan with a bit of oil, salt and pepper. After few minutes add the zucchini, the reason is we want an even cook of the vegetables.

Add the grated tomatoes, or tomato from a can, we don´t want a sauce but the tomato to be the element which brings all the ingredients together. If you are using natural tomatoes or natural canned tomatoes, add a bit of sugar and a bit of salt, always same amount, as to compensate for the acidity of the tomato.

Add a big can of tuna, use tuna in tomato juice or with water, not with oil, although it tends to taste better, for this dish will feel too heavy. Keep in mind to use a good tuna, the difference is easy noticeable in this dish.

Divide the dough in two equal parts, we have used a ready made dough, and stretch both parts to same size with the help of a cooking roller and flour. Place a baking paper in a tray and put one the halfs. Add the tuna mixture leaving two fingers space in the edges of the dough.

Close the dough with the other half and roll the edges together as to achieve a good thick line. Make few small holes so the steam won't build too much inside. Batter an egg, and with a brush paint the top of the dough. We took the freedom to add this silhouettes with a bit of remaining dough.

Place it to the oven and bake for 30 min at 200°C till it starts to gets brownish. 

Try it next day, it tastes even better!!

Salut!

Mr. South