Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

I love ricotta cheesecake, and it has less calories that regular cheesecake. This recipe is very simple and calls for many variations: here I used rum and raisins, but it is great with lemon zest, or vanilla, or candied citrus peels... Ingredients 1 sheet sweet butter pastry for the base 1 handful raisins (or sultana) 50 ml rum 3 eggs 3 tbsp sugar 500 g ricotta Line a square or rectangular baking tin with baking paper and the sweet butter pastry, pinching the pastry so that it lightly comes up to the borders (it doesn't need to come up all the way through, just about 2 or 3 cm.). Soak the raisins with the rum. Beat the eggs with the sugar until they are foamy and pale yellow, then add the ricotta and beat for one more minute. Fold in the raisins and rum and pour over the pastry. Place immediately in a preheated oven at 160°C for approximately 45 minutes, or until the borders look golden. Let the cake cool down for several hours before cutting.   Photos and recipes...

Sunday morning Colleen and Charles brought us a bag of fresh coconuts. Of course I had to ask Charles to show me how to open them, and it was easier that I thought (just look at the pictures below). We didn't have any straws so I let the coconut water drip into a glass (getting about three full glasses for each coconut!). We all loved the coconut water, especially if we left the coconut in the fridge: fresh and chilled coconut water! After drinking the water I got the boys to break the coconuts for me: Dad was good at breaking them, and Max at scraping out the flesh. When we were in Niue Charles and Colleen came for dinner. Of course I made pasta, but I also made a variety of dishes with the fresh coconuts they brought me the day before. A tomato and coconut salad with cannellini beans, spring onions and olives, dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt flakes. Coconut rice (just boil the rice with coconut pieces in it, fantastic!), cocon...

I got a few more Oratia heirloom apples (and a few garden lemons too) from Sue, this is still the season for apples in New Zealand! First I made an apple cake, I like to eat apple cake for breakfast, and I took advantage of the fact that I had a German wwoofer staying with us to indulge: she also liked cake for breakfast, something that in New Zealand is not really done! Apple and Sultana Cake with Rum The base for this cake comes from my book  Sweet As... , it is the base for most of my fruit cakes, and the original recipe is on page 28, where is used for a cherry berry cake. I start by mixing 4 eggs with 200 g of sugar, then I add 150 g of melted butter (salted), 250 g of self-raising flour, and the zest of one lemon (optional). In the meantime I peeled and cut 4 apples and splashed them with lemon juice. I also soaked 2 tbsp of sultana in a little Guatemalan Rum (Ron Botran, the best!). I added the sultana and apples for las...

Ingredients 3 eggs, separated 2-3 pears 100 g sugar 100 g butter 150 g dark chocolate 1 shot of Rum or a drop of Vanilla essence 200 g self-rising flour Usually I fold in the beaten egg whites at the end, but this time I wanted to experiment a bit, and also I wanted to coat some pear slices with meringue for decoration, so I started by whipping the egg whites. Coat a few pear slices with the egg white, then roll in sugar and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Then keep beating the egg whites and add the sugar, then the egg yolks. Melt the butter with 50 g of dark chocolate and add to the mixture. Then add the Rum (just a little, these cupcakes were for my kids also) or vanilla essence, and finally the self-rising flour. Fold in some pear cubes and divide between 12 cupcake cases. Bake at 180 °C for about 16 minutes, or until the cupcakes are cooked. Don't overbake them or they will become dry. R...