Baileys Cheesecake

An all time favourite!  Often supplied frozen to restaurants with absolutely no comparison to the home made version which is very easy to make.

In the restaurant we use a large shallow cheesecake tin approx 25cm in diameter which will give about a dozen portions.

Here's what we use; 400g pack of plain digestive biscuits, 125g butter, 25g brown sugar, 2 tubs Philadelphia approx 600g, 50g white sugar, 100ml double cream and a good measure Baileys Irish Cream.

In a bowl (not glass!) bash your biscuits to a fine crumb.  I pound them with the end of a heavy rolling pin.

Melt the butter and brown sugar together.  A blast in the microwave on half power is just the job.

Make a well in the middle of the biscuits and pour in the melted butter & sugar.  Thoroughly mix the biscuits into the butter and line your cheesecake tin, patting down the biscuit with the back of a wooden spoon.  Put the base in the fridge to set.

 For the topping put the cream cheese, sugar and cream into a bowl and whisk together until the mix is incorporated and slightly thickened.  Now add the Baileys (about half a glass) and gently whisk into the mix.  Taste, and add more Baileys if needed.  You should be able to taste the Baileys, but don't overpower it.

Spread the cheesecake mix over the top of the set biscuit base and return it to the fridge.  I like to give the whole thing a couple of hours in the fridge before serving.

To serve, cut into wedges, sprinkle a little cocoa powder, pour some cream and, above all, enjoy!

Roast Turbot with Prawns in a light Saffron Sauce

Turbot is definately a prince amongst fish!  In this recipe I roast a whole turbot then make a sauce with king prawns, wine, fish stock, saffron and cream all served with fresh home made pasta.  You will notice that the pasta is black, this is because I added squid ink into the dough.  It has very little taste but does wonderful things to the presentation.

Cooking a whole fish on the bone can be tricky, but the extra flavour from the bones is worth the time and effort.

If you take a turbot 1.5kg to 1.8 kg you will get 4 lovely portions from it.

You will notice that I have scored the fish along the back bone directly from the tail to the head.  This will allow the heat into the fish and make it easier to portion for serving.

Place the fish onto a baking sheet and into a pre-heated oven at 200C.  It will need 15-20 minutes to cook.  Once cooked the flesh should feel firm but should also spring back when pressed.

To make the sauce, peel the prawns and add to a pan with a knob of butter.  Cook over a high heat to melt the butter, add a glass of dry white wine and boil off the alcohol, add a glass of fish stock, a few strands of saffron and a half glass of double cream.  Allow the sauce to reduce to a proper sauce consistency.  Be carefull not to overcook the prawns - you can remove them from the sauce.

To remove the fillets, slide a knife in along the backbone, follow the line of bones outward and gently ease the fillet off.  Once both top fillets have been removed you should be able to simply lift out the bone away from the bottom fillets.

Serve with home made pasta or paella rice.

Fish stock and pasta recipes available at http://lemontreerecipe.blogspot.fr/p/kitchen-basics.html