Cheesecake Take 2

So as not to be disheartened by my monumental cheesecake flop of yesterday, I thought I'd give it another go today. Another 'light' cheesecake recipe, another chance to make or break my opportunity for a guilt-free version of my favourite dessert. So, this time it was Silvana Franco's chance to impress. A ricotta-based cheesecake with baked banana, stem ginger and hazelnuts. So, I baked the bananas until the skin blackened, mashed up the resulting pulp and blended it with the ricotta, a couple of eggs, some cornflour and the ginger & nuts. Then into the oven for 45mins and then open the door to let it cool. It is now in the fridge chilling. I did cut off a little bit to just try it, and the texture is considerably better than yesterday's disaster, but its not like cheesecake. It cannot really be called cheesecake as it honestly tastes nothing like cheesecake - it more like an as-yet-unnamed dessert which vaguely resonates hints of cheesecake, but seems to be crossed with baked egg-custard and omelette. However, it is not unpleasant and may be a decent dessert when you are forcing yourself to abstain from the sinful indulgence of full fat deliciousness. But... and it is a big but... its just not the same. Its just not nearly a delicious as it should be. If I am going to take the lunge of having dessert after dinner, I want it to be good. It would be nice if it was good and not too bad for me, but that seems to be a hard balance to find. So I will enjoy this cheesecake, but the next one I make will be a proper one. It may be my speciality one which is lemon and ginger cheesecake with a ginger-biscuit base. It is sublime and I miss it and this one is a poor substitute. But it is certainly another learning experience in this the year of trying new things.

So this weeks menus are veggie. No meat to be seen. All pulled from Simon Rimmer's 'Accidental Vegetarian'  which I have had for a couple of years but never made more than a handful of recipes from.

So until the next post on Monday night's first veggie adventure, happy cooking.