Winter Wonder >> Cream of Asparagus Soup for the tormented soul

 

…and R would ask, why? To torment the soul more? Hahahaha!! He hates even the sound of Asparagus, While I continue to spread my love for all exotic sounding vegetables. I think Asparagus is one of the most delicate and subtle tasting vegetables and it looks great too :). Tried making a soup out of it to beat the winter chill, not to mention the flu. Been 2 days now, and I am so done with sneezing and wheezing. The soup lifted my spirits though. Had it with lots of pepper while piping hot. Try it, if you have the appetite for it.

 

Sauté 8-10 stems of cut Asparagus along with one chopped onion in a tsp of Olive oil. Add one pod of garlic to this and season with salt. In about 5 minutes, when the onions are done, pour a glass of vegetable stock/chicken stock and simmer until the Asparagus is very tender . Puree in a blender  (don’t add the stock to the blender, only the onions and Asparagus), bring back to the pan to add the stock kept aside, 2-3 tbsp of thick cream or 1/4 cup milk and a dash of lemon juice. Serve piping hot!

 

And btw, you just can’t ignore the health benefits of this wonder vegetable. Read all about it here.

Friday Feast >> Lime and Lemony Glazed Cheesecake

Baking proved yet again to be my best buddy on a wintery bored afternoon. Besides, it was Friday. And we were having our neighbours over for dinner. We were doing a takeaway for main course anyway, so I had some time to indulge in creating a pretty looking dessert! Yaay!

I’ve always wanted to make a cheesecake and had plenty of recipes to bank on. Only when I started looking through them did I realise that there are two basic versions of a Cheesecake in general- baked and unbaked. The unbaked version uses gelatin to set it unlike the baked one. I had little time on hand to try the unbaked version, that required at least 8 hours to set. Though its said that it sets best when refrigerated overnight. So I decided to try out the baked version. I wasn’t unhappy with the results at all!! It turned out absolutely wonderful! I have to thank Kushi, my friend who inspired me to make one, though the recipe she shared with me was an unbaked one. Will try that out next time. Until then, try this! Lets feast on the pictures before we get to the recipe, ok?

 

 

 

 Ingredients:

For the filling

Cream Cheese – 500 gms

Mascarpone cheese- 250 gms

Castor Sugar : 180  gms

Eggs- 4

Lemon Juice – 4 table spoons cup (I used Lime straight from our backyard :-) )

Lemon zest – 3 tsps

flour – 3 tbsps

1 packet- digestive/Marie biscuit crushed

Butter (melted) – 100 gms

 

For the Glaze

Sugar- 1/2 cup

Lemon juice- 1/3 cup

Cornstarch – 1  and 1/2 tbsps

egg yolk- 1

Lemon zest – 2 tsps

water – 3/4 cup

 

Method: Am so glad i took pictures!

 

1. Pour melted butter to the crushed biscuits and mix well to resemble breadcrumbs. Lightly grease springform tin and press the mixture firmly to the base. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, beat all the eggs and sugar for a few minutes. Add the cream cheese and Mascarpone and beat further. Add the zest, juice in the end and blend until it looks creamy and smooth. Note, the cream cheese must be at room temperature else, its very difficult to blend.

 

3.Preheat oven to 160 degrees.  Pour the filling mixture into the biscuit base  and bake it for 45 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack.

 

 

Once it cools, refrigerate it.

In about an hour, make the glaze.

1. Mix cornstarch and sugar. Place on a saucepan on low heat.

2. In a separate cup mix well the yolk, lime juice and water. Add that to the saucepan and slowly bring the mixture to a boil. Stir continuously and let the mixture thicken. Add the zest and once thick, turn off stove. Let it cool. Once at room temp, spoon over the cheesecake and refrigerate it back till it sets over.

 

 

Refrigerate for a couple of hours and serve in style. I wish I had used some green lemon rind or Kiwi fruit to decorate, it would look better.

Do leave a comment and lemme know if you liked this recipe!

Bon appetite!