Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Goat Cheesecakes with Citrus and Candied Beets

Anita Lo believes “there are no true borders in food.” Cuisines are constantly changing and being influenced by different cultures. And, her food is pushing that evolution another step forward. Her new book is Cooking Without Borders, and I received a review copy. In it, she describes her approach to building dishes with multiple points of reference. With a multicultural upbringing and world travels from a young age, she draws on various influences for her cooking style. After first learning classic French cooking technique, she then gained expertise in Korean and Vietnamese cooking. Often, her dishes combine European concepts with Asian ingredients. Despite the array of ideas contributing to each dish, the result is always refined and well-articulated. The recipes in the book include some of Lo’s home-cooking favorites as well as restaurant dishes, and some of them are definitely chef’s recipes. She does make good suggestions for modifications for the home cook whenever the process is lengthy or the ingredients are out of the ordinary. For her fried oysters with buckwheat and caviar, although it sounds like blini might be involved, the buckwheat is actually naengmyum which is a Korean noodle similar to soba. The dish was inspired by a mix of soba noodles and garnishes that Lo experienced in Japan. A fried oyster and caviar add briny flavor in different textures, and there’s a ponzu-style sauce balanced with dashi broth. She recommends more affordable American caviar for this and offers tips for a quick version of the dish made with store-bought ponzu. Like all the recipe descriptions in the book, this one clearly shows her thought process and her vision for the mix of flavors and textures in a unique dish.

Some of the dishes I want to try soon are the slow-cooked salmon with smoked paprika and savoy cabbage, the roasted kabocha and maitake with bitter chocolate, and breast of duck with hoisin and figs. First, though, I was fascinated by a recipe in the Desserts and Drink chapter. The goat cheesecakes with citrus and candied beets is an interpretation of a salad turned into a dessert. Rather than fresh chevre served with roasted beets and a citrus vinaigrette, the cheese became a rich, sweet cheesecake, the beets were candied with vanilla, and the citrus was used both as a fruit salad in syrup and as candied zest. It was a lot easier to prepare than I expected after seeing the photo of the pretty, plated dessert in the book. The individual cheesecakes were baked in ramekins with no waterbath required. Thin slices of beets were candied in a sugar syrup with both vanilla seeds scraped from a pod and vanilla extract. That syrup took on the dark pink color of the beets and reduced as the beet slices became tender. It was then dribbled on the plate as a sauce. Grapefruit, orange, and lime zests were candied in a separate sugar syrup, and then those fruits’ segments were macerated in that syrup. When the cheesecakes baked, they puffed and then settled in the center making a perfect space for the candied beets and zest. The only difficulty I had with this dessert was removing the cheesecakes from the ramekins. The two I unmolded as soon as they were cool enough to handle came out fine, but the ones that were chilled in the ramekins were difficult to remove. My suggestion would be to unmold them all as soon as possible and store them in a roomy, covered container to chill.

Regarding this dessert, Lo suggests that some people may think of it as a mix of a cheese course and dessert. For me, this was entirely dessert. The beets took on sweet, vanilla flavor and complemented the cheesecakes very well. Meanwhile, the citrus was bright and fruity and delicious with the sauce on the plate. This is thought-provoking food which is interesting to prepare and delightful to eat, and I know I’ll learn something new about flavors every time I cook from this book.

See my review of Cooking Without Borders and get this goat cheesecakes with citrus and candied beets recipe at Project Foodie.



29 comments:

  1. holy cow.. goat cheesecakes with candied beets? What a brilliant idea!! You certainly ARE cooking! amazing.

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  2. That is a very original creation! Those cheesecakes look amazing and must taste divine.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. Savory cheesecakes are a lot of fun, especially when you trick someone into taking a bite. Everyone expects them to be sweet. :) The colors are great too!

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  4. Gorgeous! I love how different these are from a typical cheesecake. The flavors sound lovely together.

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  5. Your pictures are so lovely, I will be tweeting this! Make it a great day!

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  6. I have to say I have loved beets since I was a child (we grew them in the garden) and when I eat a salad my friends joke I am eating a beet toped with salad. Will have to give this one a try.

    http://blog.beccacooks.com/

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  7. I love beets, but never thought of pairing them with goat cheese, let alone in a dessert.
    It looks and sounds terrific! Beautiful presentation too.

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  8. Really interesting, Lisa. And it makes a lovely (and surprising) presentation, doesn't it? Beets are on my radar right now too. I found a lovely recipe for a beet tart I've been meaning to try. Will add this to the list.

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  9. Absolutely gorgeous! I love the idea of combining beets with citrus- sounds delicious. And goat cheesecake, how could you go wrong? I'll have to look for the book!

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  10. I am betting this would be dessert for me too - and a dreamy one at that! I think Anita is fantastic and wish she had a show of her own. Something tells me I'll be picking up her new book now... Great post!

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  11. Wow! What a great dish. I always order a beet and goat cheese salad when it is on a menu and make it at home often. This sounds just wonderful...I can't wait to try it.

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  12. What a novel idea...this cheesecake looks so pretty and appetising!
    It reminds me of a candied zuchinni dessert I had once in a Greek restaurant. I think once my mind got around the fact that it was a savoury vegetable made into a dessert it was really delicious.

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  13. These goat cheesecakes are gorgeous and very special with the citrus and candied beets topping, nice!

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  14. the colours are really pretty and I love the ingredients combi.

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  15. This is certainly a surprise dish Lisa since I really thought it had to be savoury. But then beets are sweet and they would be lovely as a topping. What an innovative idea!

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  16. Love fusion cuisine. I love to take elements from other cultures and incorporate them in my recipes with Greek products. The savory cheesecakes look very appetizing and love that they are paired with beets and citrus.

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  17. That looks so tasty! I love "savory" dessert, I will have to try these, and I love goat cheese cheesecakes, the tangy is perfect.

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  18. Lisa, this is right down my alley. Very beautiful and a way I have not yet combined beetroot and goats cheese, candied in this way. Thanks for reviewing the book i am very interested in it. Did you cook the cheese cake?.....it looks very very nice.

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  19. Wow Lisa, so nice this goat cheesecake, especially with candied beet, and I must confess that never had anything like this. Great pictures as always.
    Hope you are having a wonderful week :)

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  20. What a beautiful picture this made! And it looks tasty, too. Goat cheesecakes make me think of Fino.... and boy do I miss Austin. Sigh!

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    Replies
    1. Just discovered your blog and i am really impress by your skills; As a new member i will definitively follow you to learn to make good and elaborate receipe; you are my new inspiration; Keep up a good work;

      www.lambassaa.blogspot.com

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  21. i've seen ricotta as a cheesecake base, but goat cheese is a new one! plus, BEETS! this is quite a creation, lisa, and it's stunning to behold!

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  22. So beautiful Lisa. I never choose cheesecake as a dessert option because it's just too rich for me. But without the cloying sweet crust and that amazing sauce, I would totally choose this!

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  23. Stunning! I need some candied beets...and soon! YUM!

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  24. This sort of feels like it would be a sweet and savoury cheesecake. I love goats cheese but have never thought to use it in cheesecakes. Guess I had better change my thinking!

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  25. How creative to use beets on cheesecake like this. I have this cookbook and can't wait to start cooking from it, too.

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  26. What a wonderful idea for a dessert, I cannot wait to try it, but I suspect mine will not turn out nearly as amazing as the pictures of yours. What a perfect choice to sample and share with us.

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  27. I love the idea of turning a salad into a dessert! Well sort of. It sounds and looks amazing!

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  28. I really like her philosophy! And they're such gorgeous unique little cheesecake - yum!

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