A Foodie Friday Photo Shoot!!

Hey y'all! Tutti a tavola!

That's "Southern" Italian, if you didn't know!

It means...we have a ton of leftovers, so everyone to the table!

It's Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum and we had a real Foodie Day! Today we had a photographer from Chapel Hill Magazine in our kitchen taking pictures of me and Allie making some "summer foods".

What do you think?? Does this say summer to you?? As in July 4th?

The recipe the magazine is actually featuring is our Watermelon, Avocado, Feta Salad that we posted here but they asked for a display of summer foods (which are now all left over, so come on down!)

Mr Bramasole supervised the action

This is what a 16 year old does in the name of fashion. On a 94 degree Carolina day, she wears suede boots with her shorts...

Teaching her to use Mom's big knife

Ready to eat!

Strawberries and blueberries just scream summer and America!

Move over Paula Deen and Sons!

Isn't she cute??! 

Now I will admit to being known for my cheesecakes- they're a favorite dessert around here. Dense and creamy New York cheesecake, luscious ricotta cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake- I make them all. This particular recipe is a favorite of Allie's. It's the one she requests whenever  she gets to pick dessert. Feel free to use different fruit (we were going for patriotic here) or to swirl some preserves through the batter. You can make a crust if you choose, but I generally prefer to use ladyfingers or pirouettes as we did today.

Pattie's Famous Creamy Cheesecake

adapted from a recipe by Rose Levy Beranbaum that I clipped MANY years ago

all ingredients at room temperature.

grease an 8 inch springform pan, line bottom with a round of waxed paper and grease paper. Wrap pan well with heavy duty foil and place in a much larger roasting pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put a pot of water on to boil

2 8 ounce packages of cream cheese

1 cup sugar

3 eggs (large or extra large)

3 TBLSP lemon juice

2 tsp vanilla

salt

3 cups sour cream

(If you're going to make a crust in the pan, add 1 TBLSP cornstarch to absorb any extra moisture and prevent sogginess)

Beat the cream cheese and sugar till very smooth and fluffy. Beat eggs in one at a time, then lemon juice, vanilla and cornstarch, if using. Add a pinch of salt and fold in sour cream till smooth. Pour into springform, add boiling water to roasting pan to about 1 1/2 inch depth, and bake for 45 minutes. Turn off oven (do NOT open door) and allow to set there for 1 hour. remove pan from roaster and remove foil. Place on rack over a pan (to catch any drips) and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

Run a thin knife around edges and remove sides of springform. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on a dinner plate and invert over cheesecake. Flip cake over and remove bottom, peeling off waxed paper. Place serving plate on cake and flip using the 2 plates to "sandwich the cake. Carefully lift off dinner plate and you should have no damage to your cake top!. Decorate top and sides as desired. I placed strawberries around the edges and brushed them with some of my strawberry jelly which I had melted over low heat. I then poured a container of blueberries in the melted jelly and stirred (off heat) to glaze them. Mound the berries in the center. I cut chocolate filled pirouette wafer cookies in half and stood them up around the cake (you may need a helper for this- they tend to fall over. I usually brush a tiny bit of the melted jelly on the cake sides to make it sticky) Wrap with a ribbon and tie a pretty bow. The fruits and ribbon can be changed to match the occasion and I have also used ladyfingers or a chocolate lattice (seen here ) to rim the cake. 

Have a fabulous weekend and join us at Michael's for the Foodie Friday fun! 

As Always,

Buon Cibo, Buon Amici,

Pattie and Allie