saturday kitchen recipe

Goats’ cheese cheesecake with poached rhubarb

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Preparation time
less than 30 mins

Cooking time
30 mins to 1 hour

Serves
Serves 8

Dietary
Vegetarian

The tangy goats’ cheese in this spiced cheesecake is a wonderful base for sweet rhubarb.

By Angela Hartnett
From Saturday Kitchen

Ingredients

For the cheesecake

  • 175g/6oz digestive biscuits
  • 85g/3oz butter
  • 300g/10½oz soft goats’ cheese
  • 125g/4½oz runny honey, plus 4 tbsp to serve
  • 1 vanilla pod, seeds only
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • pinch freshly ground nutmeg
  • 175g/6oz crème fraîche
  • 3 free-range eggs, beaten

For the poached rhubarb

  • 700g/1lb 9oz rhubarb, cut into 3–4cm/1½in pieces
  • 400g/14oz caster sugar

To serve

  • 100g/3½oz walnuts, broken into pieces
  • 100g/3½oz hazelnuts, chopped

Method

  1. Preheat the oven 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3½. Put the biscuits in a food processor and blitz to fine crumbs.

  2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the biscuit crumbs and mix. Tip into an 18–20cm/7–8in loose-bottomed tart tin and press down. Cover and put in the fridge.

  3. Put the goats’ cheese, honey, vanilla seeds, spices, crème fraîche and eggs in a large bowl and mix.

  4. Pour the mixture onto the biscuit base and smooth with a pallette knife. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the filling is set but there is still a bit of a wobble. Leave to cool completely before placing in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

  5. When you are ready to serve the cheesecake, preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3. Toss the rhubarb with the sugar, cover with 400ml/14fl oz water and bake for 10 minutes.

  6. Heat a small frying pan over a medium heat and cook the honey and nuts for 2–3 minutes.

  7. Remove the cheesecake from the tin and cut into slices. Scatter the nuts over the top and serve with the poached rhubarb.