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This deconstructed take of a damson cheescake is a great base for various foraged items from spring to autumn.
The beauty of a deconstructed cheescake over a conventional cheescake is it's portability. The ingredients can be carried with you in a coolbag in a rucksack on a hot summers day and then plated as impromptu picnic item on a hike. The base cheesecake can be adorned with various foraged items found along your hike and be presented restaurant style. It also stands up to being scrutinised as part of a more formal meal when camping or even indoors.
I started off making this dish with real diary cream and soft cheese but due to having to cater to non-dairy eaters I made the move to using vegan alternatives and I have to say the results are better... The cheescake mixture is light and delicious and I've yet to serve it to anyone who hasn't licked their plate clean! I'm not going to mention any brands here as I'll leave you to experiment.
The instructions for the coulis will make more than you need but it can be easily frozen and thawed for later use.
Ingredients
Cheesecake element
- 1/2 organic digestive biscuit crumb
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 120g dairy free cream cheese, room temperature (or dairy if you prefer)
- 1⁄4 cup sugar
- 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1⁄2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1⁄2 cup heavy/whippable dairy free cream (or dairy if you prefer)
Coulis element
- 500g Damson
- 200ml water
- 125g sugar
Method
Cheese part
- Combine the soft cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice in a mixing bowl.
- Whisk the cream in a separate bowl until you achieve stiff peaks.
- Combine the whipped cream and softcheese together by gently folding.
- Chill the mix
Crumb part
- Crush the biscuits into crumb
- Melt the butter in a pan
- Add the crumb and mix so achieve aslightly damp 'sand' texture.
- The result you are trying to achive is in between dry crumb and big clumps of buttery biscuit.
Coulis part
- Add your damsons to a pan and cover with water.
- Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30minutes.
- Pour the liquid through a sieve.
- Add push the remainder of the fruit through a sieve (or foodmill) and discard the stones and skins.
- Stir the smooth pulp and liquid and keep warm.
- Add the sugar and stir until fully disolved.
- Let the coulis cool down and then add to a sauce bottle.
Plating
- Allow the cheesemix to warm up slightly from chilled.
- With a serving spoon take a single but full scoop of the cheesecake mix and put directly on the plate. If you're skilled you could attempt a rocher or quinelle.
- Take a handfull of crumb and drop onto the scoop.
- Use the sauce bottle to drizzle the damson coulis loosely over the crumb and then do a couple of quick rounds of the plate.
- Now you can adorn the plate with edible flowers and/or fruit - depending on what you've managed to forage.
