Or, see also: served in a jam jar, so you can take it to the movies/theater/birthday picnic extravaganza.
TBK’s other resident philosopher has a birthday that always happens right before the Fall semester starts. This is good, because it’s nice to have something to celebrate before the summer officially ends (for academics), and also bad, because nobody wants a birthday that signals the end of summer. Least of all people who already worry that birthdays are awful and we are all doomed anyway. (This year, even I have to agree that this is a somewhat rational view. About the world, not the birthdays, anyway.)
In the face of this, there is nothing left to do but make really awesome cake and celebrate your socks off, and allow ample time for the inevitable getting back on the inevitable horses later on.
In other news, pluots played a starring role as a philosophical example in my doctoral dissertation. I really should have read the signs and started the food blog much, much earlier.
This recipe is inspired by a similar dish in Ottolenghi’s Plenty More cookbook. I tried to make his recipe as written, I really did. (Sticking to recipes is not my strong suit.) But I had to change almost everything, and this is what we ended up with.
One thing I do agree with Mr. Ottolenghi about is the fact that this makes a great dessert for occasions when you want everything taken care of ahead of time. I made the cheesecake cream stuff two days in advance, I made the compote and orange oil 24 hours in advance, and I made the crumble the night before (after an epic fail the first time around, a smoky apartment, and the consensus that I know how to make a crumble and should just follow my own instincts in this matter). I also made up the jam jars several hours before we ate them, and stashed them in an insulated bag in the car, so we could eat them for our post-theater birthday picnic. (We saw National Theatre Live’s production of Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, by the way. And it was awesome.)
- 14 oz/400g cream cheese
- 1 cup/200g mascarpone
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons/125 g caster sugar (or regular sugar)
- 1¼ cups/ 300 ml heavy cream
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- peel of ½ an orange, sliced into strips
- 8 pluots, pitted and cut into cubes (I bet other fruit would be good here, too)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons butter
- about ½-3/4 cup flour
- about 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- about a tablespoon of olive oil
- For the cheesecake: at least a day in advance, mix the cream cheese, mascarpone, and ½ cup or 100g of sugar together in a mixer or large bowl with electric whisks until smooth. Add the lemon zest. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks, and fold the cream into the cheese mixture. You want a light texture, so try to fold with a light touch. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
- For the oil: Place the strips of orange peel and the olive oil in a small pot over medium heat. As soon as you get a hint of sizzle, take the pan off the heat and leave to cool with the orange peel immersed as much as possible.
- For the compote: Put the fruit, the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, and the lemon juice in a pot and cook over medium heat for about half an hour, or until fruit has collapsed and you get a jammy, pourable or spoonable consistency. If you want more chunky fruit, watch carefully and remove from heat earlier, when desired consistency is reached.
- For the crumble: Heat the oven to 350F/176C. Add butter, flour, sugar, and oats to a small bowl. Pinch the butter into the flour mixture until you get small flakes or pea-sized pieces of butter in a gravelly mixture. Add the almonds and sesame seeds and stir to combine. Add a dash of olive oil if mixture looks too sandy and not clumpy enough. Spread the crumble mixture on a baking tray lined with parchment, making sure to not spread things too thinly. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, watching carefully to make sure the edges don't burn. Cool in pan on a rack, and break into crumbles when completely cool
- To assemble: do what feels right. I spooned some cheesecake mixture into a jam jar, added compote on the side, drizzled everything with orange oil, and topped with a sparse hit of crumble. I bet you could go other ways and change the taste quite a bit.