Hughenden Manor Apple Cheesecake

This weekend, some friends of ours took us to Hughenden Manor, the country home of Benjamin Disraeli. The house was gorgeous, with portraits of family and friends (including a large one of Lord Byron) and a lot of the original decoration. The best part, though, was the walled garden. Full of just-ripening apples, pumpkins, chard, kale, pears, and even figs (!), it was the perfect place to take a break in the middle of the afternoon.

On the way out, I stopped to buy some apples. Fifteen for £1 meant that I went home with enough to make dessert--and more! I picked up some cream cheese, sour cream, lemon, and digestive biscuits at Sainsbury's, and that was that:



The base recipe for the cheesecake is an old one my mom gave me a couple years ago.

Crust Ingredients
1.5 cup digestive biscuit crumbs
about half a cup of sugar, more or less
4 T melted butter
Nutmeg

Crust Directions
Preheat the oven to 350˚
1. Mix the crumbs, butter, and sugar together and pat onto the bottom of a springform pan.
2. Bake at 350˚ for 10 minutes.
3. Sprinkle with nutmeg and chill.

Cake Ingredients
1 lb cream cheese
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1-2 T lemon juice
1 T vanilla
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1 T mixed spice (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, etc)
1 cup sour cream

Cake directions
Preheat oven to 325˚
1. Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, mix lemon, lemon juice, vanilla, and flour.
3. Mix dry ingredients with wet.
4. Add the spice.
5. Fold in the sour cream.
6. Pour into springform pan and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
7. After baking for 45 minutes, turn off oven and let sit in closed oven for another 20 minutes to half an hour.
8. After this, take the cake out of the oven and let cool on counter.

Topping Ingredients
Apples
Juice of half a lemon
A bit of sugar
Allspice

Topping Directions
I wasn't measuring anything at this point--just playing around--so the proportions are going to be vague.
1. Make applesauce with the above ingredients, keeping the skins on if you want the color, but taking them off before topping the cheesecake. Basically, boil the apples for about 25 minutes on medium with a bit of water, stirring frequently. Reduce to a thick sauce.
2. With two apples, cut into very thin slices, and place on a tin-foil covered baking sheet. Grill in the oven until slightly shriveled and browning.
3. Spread applesauce on top of the cheesecake, then some caramel sauce (see below).
4. Sprinkle apple pieces on top of the sauce, and drizzle more sauce on top.

sausage-sage cassoulet

for the stew:
2 tbs olive oil
1 lb sausage (we used sage turkey sausage)
3 leeks, chopped in small pieces
4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 granny smith apple, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tbs rosemary
4 tbs sage

1 can lima beans, drained
1 can great northern beans, drained
1 can butter beans, drained
(save one cup of liquid from the beans for chicken bouillon)
1 can diced tomatoes
3 tbs tomato paste
dash of ground cloves

for the crust:
2 demi-baguettes of day-old french bread
1/8 cup olive oil
8 roma tomatoes, halved and seeded, then chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Use an oven/stovetop pan. We used Ben's new 2-quart oval Le Creusset dutch oven, and there was just enough room for the dish (barely!) when all the ingredients were added.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
1. Cook sausages in 2 tbs olive oil until cooked almost through.
2. Put sausages on a plate and cut into bite-sized rounds.
3. Use liquid from cooking sausages to sautee leeks and garlic until soft.
4. Add chopped apple, rosemary, sage, and wine, and cook until reduced, about 5 minutes.
5. Add beans, tomatoes and tomato paste, chicken stock, cloves, and mix in the sausage.
6. Stir well, cover, and bake for 30-40 minutes.

While the stew is cooking,

1. Cut french bread into pieces about the size of strawberries.
2. Heat 1/8 cup olive oil in a frying pan and sautee bread for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
3. When the bread is cool(ish), mix into the parsley and tomato mixture, season with salt and pepper, and save for the topping.

Take the cassoulet out of the oven.

1. Add toast topping, spreading evenly over the surface.
2. Return to oven and bake, uncovered, for about 10-20 minutes.


Serve with a Corsendonk or a Gouden Carolus (as cold as possible).