This is a recipe for elderflower cheesecake. In keeping with the English theme and the historical flavor of the newsletter I decided to take a look in a recipe book that I bought some 30 years ago, called To the King’s Taste. It’s a collection of medieval recipes adapted for modern cooking by Lorna J. Sass.

I was browsing through it and in the dessert section I saw this recipe. I was immediately transported back to a lunch Jean and I had with our old friends Geoff and Ros Peckham at a restaurant in Lewes, East Sussex a couple of years ago. Jean saw an elderflower cordial on the menu and decided to try it. It was very good and she became an immediate fan. When I saw this recipe I knew that this was what I’d been looking for. 

(Dried elderflowers are available online and at some wine and beer-making supply stores. I’d read that they are sometimes sold at Mexican grocery stores but when I went looking for them in my neighborhood I had no luck.)

 

a nine-inch unbaked pie crust 

3 Tbs of dried elderflowers

4 Tbs heavy cream 

½ cup of sugar 

½ lb farmers cheese 

½ lb ricotta cheese 

2 tsp dry bread crumbs 

6 egg whites beaten until stiff but not dry 

 

 

Bake the pie crust at 425º F for 10 mins 

Soak the elderflowers in the cream for about 10 minutes 

Add sugar and stir until dissolved

Push the cheeses through a strainer with the back of a spoon 

Combine cheeses with elderflower-cream mixture. Add bread crumbs. Blend thoroughly 

Fold in stiff egg whites

Pour mixture into pie crust

Bake at 375º F for about 50 minutes until firm but not dry. 

Turn off the heat and allow to cool in oven with door open for about 15 minutes