Cheese Cake

This recipe was passed to me by my mother, and to her from her mother, and to her from one of my aunts ex-boyfriends... I used to think it was an old family recipe... This is my variation to make individual sized portions...

For this you will need

Topping
0.22 liter 3/8th pint evaporated milk (works best if slightly frozen)
grated rind and juice of 2 lemons
0.3 litres 1/2 pint double cream
0.12 kilograms 4 oz soft cheese (Philadelphia works fine)
0.12 kilograms 4 oz caster sugar

Base
12 digestive biscuits
0.045 kilograms 1 1/2 oz sugar
0.09 kilograms 3 oz butter

Equipment
Three mixing bowls
Whisk (it is possible with a normal balloon whisk, but I recommend using an electric whisk)
10 empty yogurt pots
Small saucepan
Gas (or electric) hob
Fridge
Wooden spoon
Rolling pin (any hard object will do at a pinch)

The first thing that you need to make is the base. This is simple. Crush up the digestive biscuits in a bowl with the rolling pin. Melt the 3 oz of butter in the saucepan, remove from the heat and mix in the crushed digestive biscuits and the 1.5 oz of sugar.

Place an equal amount of the base mixture into each of the yogurt pots and press flat. The base should be just under 1cm thick. If you have some left over you may be able to make more... Leave the bases aside to cool.

For the topping, add the lemon rind to the evaporated milk and whisk it until it is thick and creamy.

Whip the cream to a light and fluffy consistency.

Mix the lemon juice, cheese and sugar together and fold them into the evaporated milk. Folding is a very gentle mixing action with a wooden spoon, using a figure of eight motion.

Fold the whipped cream into the resulting mixture.

You then pour the topping into the yogurt pots and place them into the fridge to set. The setting will take around twelve hours.

Variations

Add some fruit on top of the topping. Kiwi fruit work very well, or any kind of berries. (The picture shows some cheesecake with blueberries.

You can make this in a cake tin, but it has to be the type of cake tin that the side unclips from otherwise you won't be able to serve it effectively.

Bangers and Mash with gravy.

For this classic British recipe you will need

1 large potato per person
2-3 sausages per person (it is worth spending more to get better sausages for this. Pork are better.)
1/2 an onion per person
3 small mushrooms per person
some kind of stock powder (chicken or vegetable would be best)
around 50g butter
one egg
splash of milk
salt
pepper

one large frying pan
one medium sized pan
a masher
a bread board
a knife

two gas (electric will do if you have no alternative) hobs.

The first step is to wash the potatoes, cut them into roughly inch cubes and put them in the pan with enough water to cover them plus a bit. You can add salt to the water as well. Put the pan on a high heat.

While the water is heating up you can slice the mushrooms and onions into largish pieces.

Add some cooking oil to the pan (you don't need much) fry the sausages in the pan on a high heat until they are browned all over and then add the mushrooms and onions to the frying pan. You can reduce the heat a little at this stage.

While you are doing all of this keep an eye on the potatoes to see if they are boiling. If they are then reduce the heat on the potatoes until they are simmering steadily.

When the onions in the frying pan are a nice light golden brown colour add some of the water from the boiling potatoes to the frying pan. Add the stock powder to the frying pan at this point and add pepper to taste. Turn the heat under the frying pan right down so it is gently simmering.

Test the potatoes to see if they are done. Stab them with a knife or a fork. If they are easy to stab then they are done. Drain out the water. If the frying pan looks a little dry then add some more of the potato water to that.

Add the butter, egg and milk to the potatoes and also add salt to taste. The more salt the better it will taste... but salt is bad for you... so use caution. Be careful not to use too much milk, you only need a splash... and if you really want to you can get away without using any.

Mash the potatoes until they are at a good consistency for you. I like them smooth, but not too smooth. It is personal preference how you like them. Dish out the mashed potato onto plates.

Add the sausages next to the mash, and pour the mushroom and onion gravy over the whole lot.

I like to have mustard on the side as I think it goes well with the sausages.

And voilà... you have a delicious meal.


Optional extras.

If you feel adventurous you can add mustard to the potatoes before you mash them.

Chopped spinach (you can find it in the freezer section of the supermarket) enhances any gravy. Just add it to the frying pan after you have added the water.

If you are having lamb sausages you can try adding mint to the mashed potato.