Mexican Cheesecake (Savoury)
- 6 corn tortillas
- 3 tablespoons melted butter or 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 12 ounces plain goat cheese
- 12 ounces cream cheese
- 1 1/4 cups sour cream
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 jalapenos or 2 serrano chilies, finely minced
- 1 cup salsa, drained,plus a little extra for garnish
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 4 extra large eggs
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus some sprigs for the garnish
- 2 stiffly beaten egg whites
- watercress (to garnish)
- sliced avocado (to garnish)
- Oven dry the tortillas at 200F directly on an oven rack for 45 minutes, until very crackly crisp.
- When the tortillas are cool, grind very fine in a food processor.
- Place in an airtight bag until ready to use.
- May be done several days ahead.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Brush the inside of a 9-inch springform pan with melted butter and carefully coat with tortilla crumbs.
- Tap out excess and reserve for topping.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer or food processor, beat together the cheeses, sour cream, garlic, jalapenos, salsa, tomato paste, salt, pepper and eggs.
- Beat until smooth.
- Fold in the cilantro and beaten egg whites.
- Pour into prepared pan and sprinkle top evenly with remaining tortilla crumbs.
- Wrap bottom of pan in heavy aluminum foil to prevent leaking.
- Place pan inside a larger pan and pour in enough hot water to come up 1 inch.
- Bake for 70 minutes.
- Test center with a knife, which should come out clean.
- Cool in oven with door ajar.
- Remove sides from pan, but leave cake on the pan bottom.
- Place on platter.
- Surround with watercress.
- Place a bouquet of watercress on center of the cake.
- Garnish with crescents of avocado.
- Cut into wedges and serve with tomato salsa on the side.
- The cheesecake is best not refrigerated, so ideally, it should come out of the oven about 2 hours before serving time.
corn tortillas, butter, goat cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, garlic, jalapenos, salsa, tomato paste, salt, fresh ground pepper, eggs, cilantro, egg whites, avocado
Taken from www.food.com/recipe/mexican-cheesecake-savoury-81004 (may not work)