strawberrygate

this past weekend got off to a somewhat bad start on friday night.

kevin and i were going to dinner the next night with the ventursons and the webellos down in saratoga, and i had volunteered to bring dessert. as we all know, strawberries are in season, and i remembered i had once made a strawberry cheesecake that mikey (venturson) had really liked. mikey is one of those guys who rarely gets effusive about food, so when he went bonkers over this dessert, it burned into my brain, so i decided to make said strawberry cheesecake.

in and of itself, this was not the problem. i went to whole foods on my way home from work, got graham crackers (after spending about 10 minutes reading several different boxes to see which was the least chemically egregious...the crazy part is who knew so many companies make GRAHAM CRACKERS - not that i spent 10 minutes reading the ingredients... ahem), cheeses (cream and mascarpone), and then went on my merry way and began the cheesecake-construction project.

first, the crust came out perfectly - beautifully golden brown, perfectly level. never had i made a crust so perfectly. NEVER.

the strawberries from the farmers' market were also perfect. they roasted perfectly. i actually managed to wait until the cheeses and eggs were actually at room temperature (usually i'm too impatient and just use the ingredients even though they're still a little cold) and they blended incredibly smoothly and perfectly; i leveled the different layers of cheesecake, well "perfectly" is a word that comes to mind.

i got an unusually good, tight seal with the tinfoil around the springform pan. i used my relatively new (smaller, manageable) roasting pan, perfectly timed the water coming to a boil, and when the hour was up, found a perfectly set, lightly golden, not-a-single-lump-in-sight cheesecake.

now comes the bad part.

i got out the roasting pan from the oven and set it by the sink. i then got two oven mitts and carefully raised the perfect cheesecake. i then carefully set the cheesecake on the built-in rack we have in the sink. and then less than 1 second later, my weekend got shot to shizzle.

somehow...i don't know how... [unsteady, wobbly voice] but the cheesecake tipped over into the (TINY!) area that isn't covered by the rack and...and... ...and the whole, perfect cheesecake upended into the drain. *sniffles* *hiccup* kevin heard me shout in dismay and anger "oh FUDGY FUDGE!!!!!!!" (except, puh-leeease, i didn't say "fudgy" OR "fudge") and ran to the kitchen to see me standing extremely still and staring at the sink drain. (some random thoughts that ran through my head as i stood there, perfectly still: "it's midnight. no stores open that have good strawberries."; "oh fudge, that was like $40 worth of ingredients LITERALLY FUDGING DOWN THE DRAIN!!!!!!"; "hmmm, i wonder if the flyers are going to be able to pull if off tomorrow." [haha, yeah RIGHT! i totally wasn't thinking that. but i bet kevin was.]; "this isn't really happening, is it? is it?!?!")

i then literally threw in the towel (kitchen ones) and declared, "i can't deal with this," and stomped off to the living room, sat down, and stared blankly at the tv (not even sure it was on... hmmmm). this is when i'm reminded how good i have it: kevin just started to clean up. i managed to mutter a "thank you."

poor kevin. he tiptoed over to me a few minute later and asked if anything was salvageable. i bit out a "no" and then in an attempt at making it clear i wasn't upset with him: "thank you for taking care of it." he then tiptoed away and finished cleaning. he tried to ask me what happened, but i was having none of it. i bluntly told him i didn't want to talk about it, and sulked my face off for the rest of the night.

i wasn't really even ready to talk about until we were actually at dinner the next night. i pretended it was a funny story, but lemme tell you something: there ain't nothin' funny about what happened on friday night. my perfect cheesecake got perfectly ruined by a very imperfect mwah. what's that dumb saying: "waiting for the other shoe to drop"? well, i WASN'T WAITING for the other shoe to drop, so why did it have to... and into the SINK?! why? WHYYYYYY?!?!?!

anyway, below is my beloved strawberry cheesecake recipe. i adapted it from a martha stewart recipe from a couple years ago - my version is much more "strawberry-er" and lighter yet creamier (yes, it's possible). i really love this cheesecake. and if i can get over what happened friday night, i'll be making this soon, because strawberries are going to go away soon and not come back for a whole year! :( don't be intimidated by the multiple parts to the recipe - it's actually really easy to make.


Strawberry Cheesecake

Crust
1 1/2 cups finely ground graham crackers
2 tbsps sugar
4 tbsps unsalted butter, melted

Filling
2 lbs strawberries, hulled
2 tbsps raw honey
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb, 3 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 lb, 3 oz mascarpone chese, room temperature
2 medium eggs, room temperature
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

Crust
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and the melted butter in a small bowl. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan to make an even layer. Bake until crust is firm to the touch and has just darkened, about 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack, and let crust cool completely.

Cheesecake
Lower oven to 300 degrees. Put strawberries in a medium bowl and drizzle with honey. Toss to coat. Place strawberries in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until strawberries turn deep red, about 1 1/2 hours. Transfer strawberries and honey syrup to medium bowl and mash. Let cool completely.

Raise oven to 325 degrees. Place cheeses into bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar and salt. Scrape bowl and then add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each. Scrape bowl and then beat in vanilla bean seeds until no cheese lumps remain, about 5 minutes.

Mix in 5 cups of cheese mixture to mashed strawberries and stir well. Pour strawberry mixture into crust and smooth with an offset spatula. Carefully pour plain cheese mixture on top of strawberry layer, also smoothing with an offset spatula.

Wrap outside of springform pan in 2 layers of foil and set in roasting pan. Fill roasting pan with boiling water until water reaches halfway up the sides of the springform pan and bake cheesecake until set, about 1 hour. Carefully remove pan from water bath and set on a wire rack to cool. Chill cake at least 4 hours, up to overnight. Serves 10-12.