Archive | December, 2009

Marlene Doheney’s Famous New York-Style Cheesecake

30 Dec

Cheesecake may look intimidating to make, but it’s actually pretty easy. Like any baking, you just need to pay attention to the measurements of the ingredients and watch the cooking times.

This is about 15-20 minutes of active time, a few hours total time for the baking and the setting. Make it the day/night before you need it for less stress. You will need a springform pan (roughly 15 bucks at any cookware store) that is about 8 or 9 inches. We used a much wider pan (the only one we had) which tastes just as good but turns out a little thinner than a typical cheesecake.

Marlene Doheney’s Famous New York-Style Cheesecake

1) The Base:

1 1/4 or 1 1/2 cups of Graham Wafer Crumbs
1/2 cup of butter
1 tablespoon of sugar or flour
-Grease the bottom of the springform pan with butter (or else the base will stick) and add the Base.  Bake in pre-heated 350 oven for about 6 minutes

Putting the base in the Springform pan

2) The Filling:

2 - 8 oz. pkgs. of Cream Cheese at room temperature
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3/4 cup of white sugar
-Beat all these ingredients  together until there are no lumps and it is creamy
-Pour the filling over the cooked base evenly
-Bake in a 350 oven for about 38 to 42 minutes depending on the oven temperature
-Allow all this to cool on the counter for about 5 minutes,  making sure that the center is not very giggley
Cheesecake - The Filling

mixing the filling together

3) Topping

Mix a small container of sour cream with 2 tablespoons of white sugar and spread carefully over the cheesecake and bake again for about 5 more minutes.

4) Fruit

Allow to cool on the counter for at least an hour before refrigerating and decorate with what ever fruit you can find. We used kiwi and blackberries.

Cheesecake - The Finished Product

Jenn holding the finished product in front of the Christmas tree


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Great Party Trick – How To Prove a Food Allergy

27 Dec

First off, let me just say that you aren’t going to believe me until you try this experiment yourself, so I encourage you to try.  Hold out someone’s left forearm face up and stick a piece of food on there that the person claims to be allergic to. Have them hold their thumb and ring finger together as tightly as possible. If they are indeed allergic, it will be very easy to pull their thumb and ring finger apart. If they aren’t, then it will be difficult.

We first tried this on Jenn, who has a major gluten allergy. When we put some white flour on her forearm, her fingers came apart like she wasn’t even trying. Then, we tried a blackberry, which she can eat fine, and her fingers could barely be pulled apart.

I then did this experiment on my mom, who can’t drink anything with caffeine in it. I tried with coffee beans, and her fingers came apart very easily. But when we tried with sour cream, it was very difficult to pull them apart.

Unfortunately, I have no allergies so I couldn’t verify that this worked on myself, but being witness to both Jenn and my mom made me a believer.


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Sauteed Tilapia and Zucchini

21 Dec

Been trying to eat more fish lately, so I Picked up a flillet of tilapia and a zucchini on the way home from work today.  I smeared the fillet in some good olive oil and then cooked it in a few tablespoons of butter for about 5 minutes. I sauteed the zucchini in some olive oil as well for about ten minutes, sprinking salt and peppper a few times.

Lazy Sunday Barbecued Shrimp

21 Dec

I had a pound of frozen, unpeeled, uncooked shrimp in the freezer to use up. This recipe takes about 15 minutes in total. If possible start with fresh unpeeled shrimp, but if you are using frozen, then thaw in some cool water for an hour before you start cooking. You can use peeled, cooked shrimp if you want as well. The barbecue does not come from the cooking method but the flavour of the sauce.

Barbecued Shrimp (serves two, although I was starving and ate the whole thing myself)

-melt 1/2 cup of butter in a pan

-add one teaspoon of each of white pepper, black pepper, cayanne pepper powder, thyme, rosemary and marjoram. Mix together beforehand for better consistency

-add the shrimp and take out and reserve as soon as it’s pink (about 3 minutes). If you’re using cooked shrimp just heat them through, about a minute.

-add a minced clove of garlic, 4-6 tablespoons of white wine, a tablespoon of worcester sauce, 1/2 cup of fish stock (the buillion cubes are fine)

-bring it to a boil and reduce it down until it’s no longer watery, I forget the time, just watch it (see picture).

-plate the shrimp on a bed of rice, and pour the sauce over the rice

-serve immediately.

This is a nice lazy Sunday night dish, easy to cook and quick to clean.

Happy Cooking

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