(Or as my dear friend Julie Middlebrook notes, pea and cheesecake, not two words you would ever expect or necessarily want to hear together).
This is a beautiful, light supper dish or summer starter which looked stunning to the eye and tasted even better which surprised me too
The recipe uses everything from the pea except for its pod and uses oatcakes and butter for the base so the whole dish is wheat free.
Ingredients
For the Base
200g oatcakes
100g unsalted butter
For the Parmesan Crisps
20g Parmesan cheese
For the Pea Puree
100g butter
2 garlic cloves
300g peas
For the Filling
360g cream cheese
120 ml double cream
4 eggs
zest of one whole lemon
salt and lots of pepper
100g peas to stir through
Decorate with delicate pea shoots and purple edible flowers
Method
Bash the oatcakes to crumbs and stir into the hot melted butter
Push into a spring form base tin (about 23cm diameter), a potato masher is the ideal tool for this.
Chill the base in the fridge for at least half an hour
Next make the parmesan crisps by putting pinches of the parmesan cheese onto a baking sheet to form small domed rounds.
Put the baking tray into the oven at 180 degrees and watch like a hawk til melted and crisp like.
For the pea puree, melt the butter, add the chopped garlic but do not allow to go brown, pour onto peas and whisk with in a blender
(At this point we were in trouble as I had used frozen peas and the whole mixture went like a chilled lumpy slush puppy (only green)
Keep a calm head at all times and place back onto the heat to re heat then puree with a stick blender of in the mouli mix.
Whisk all the cheese and cream and eggs together and the lemon zest in a big bowl.
Add the pea puree mix again and season to taste (lots)
Stir in the whole peas and tip onto chilled base
Place in oven at 180 and cook for 35 – 40 minutes and take out of the oven only when the middle bit no longer wobbles and the top is slightly golden brown.
Turn out the cheese cake and decorate with the parmesan chips and the pea shots and edible flowers.
Everybody need a dose of beauty in their life at the weekend – this certainly gave us that
Enjoy!
The Universe Project 