On a trip to Manhatten a few years ago Daniel and I were taken to a neighborhood restaurant around the corner from a childhood friend who we were visiting.  We fell in love with it and went there a few nights for dinner.  The following year when we returned, we went back once again. There are two recipes on this blog from the restaurant: Veal and Ricotta Meatballs and this recipe for Mascarpone Cheesecake. Developing this recipe, as well as the one for the meatballs, took quite a bit of tinkering, since the restaurant refused to share, but in the end, both recipes are straightforward and easy to execute.

The recipe for the Mascarpone Cheesecake is particularly poignant for me.  It was the last trip Daniel and would take together for the foreseeable future as he was in college and the remaining summers would be devoted to lab work and internships. We spent our days looking for the the best bagel in NYC, looking for a cannoli to rival my grandmothers (didn’t exist in NYC or Brooklyn), and sampling a dozen pastry shops.

COMPONANTS

• Mascarpone Cheesecake
• Caramelized almonds
• orange marmalata

MAKE CHEESECAKE

• 8oz whole milk hand dipped ricotta cheese (drained for 24 hours in the refrigerator in a sieve)
• 8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
• 8 oz Mascarpone cheese preferably import d from Italy.
• 3 room temp eggs
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1.5 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 tsp vanilla
•  lemon zest from 1/2 lemon

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a Cuisinart beat cream cheese and ricotta until smooth. Add sugar, lemon juice and rind, vanilla, mascarpone and pulse until smooth.
3. Add eggs one at a time pulsing briefly after each addition as you want to minimize aerating the mixture.
4. Work mixture through a fine mesh sieve or tami.
5. Place extra large waxed paper cupcake liners in standard size cupcake tins. The liners will rise up over the edges of the tin and that’s ok.  Alternatively you can use silicone molds with a 1/2 cup capacity.
6. Pour batter into molds. You’ll get about 8.
7. Bake in water bath for about 25 minutes. Remove when interior temp is 155 degrees Fahrenheit remove from oven and water bath and chill.

MAKE CARAMELIZED ALMONDS

• 70 grams (1/3 cup) superfine sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 198 grams (7oz) blanched, slivered almonds

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
2. Bring sugar and water to a simmer, swirling the pan from time to time to dissolve the sugar.  Wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in ice water. Bring to a boil and cook without stirring until the mixture reaches 248 degrees.
3. Add the almonds all at once and stir the nuts with a wooden spoon until the sugar turns white and sandy  continue to cook until the sugar begins to caramiized.  The coating will be bumpy.
4. Immediately turn out on to the Silpat and after a few minutes, use the spoon separate the almonds

MAKE ORANGE MARMALATA

• 3 fresh oranges, supremed
• 1/4 cup seville orange marmalade

1. Supreme oranges, working over a bowl to save the juice.
2. Heat orange marmalade until liquified.
3. Remove from heat and stir orange juice and fresh orange segments into the marmalade.
4. Chill

PLATE

Unmold a Cheesecake onto a  plate and carefully peel of paper.  Place a few tablespoons of the marmalata on the plate and top the cake with almonds.