Cheesecake Modena style – recipe of the week

Recipe by Massimo Bottura from Parmigiano Reggiano
Photography: Janez Puksic

Serves 4

Base
100 g flour
40 g whole wheat flour
2 egg yolks + 1 whole egg
100 g salted butter
40 g granulated sugar
10 g toasted sesame seeds
6 g baking powder

Cream
330 g whole milk
40 g grated Parmigiano reggiano cheese
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
50 g almond water (obtained by chopping the almonds in water with an immersion blender, filtering the mass and collecting the liquid)
60 g egg yolks
30 g granulated sugar
100 g white chocolate
50 g mascarpone
50 g ricotta
20 g gelatin
60 g whipping cream

Guarnizione
Mixed fruits and spices (see Presentation)

Base
Mix together all of the ingredients and allow them to rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Spread the mixture in a thin layer on an ungreased baking tray creating four long, thin rectangles. Preheat the oven to 180 °C and bake the base for 6 minutes.

Cream
Mix and then filter 330 g of milk, 40 g of Parmigiano, the seeds extracted from the vanilla bean and the almond water. Set aside. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, add to the milk/cheese mixture and heat to  85 °C.
Soften the gelatin and add to the above. Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler. Mix the ricotta with the mascarpone and pass through a sieve. Amalgamate all of the ingredients and chill to 20 °C. Lightly whip the cream and fold it in. Spread the cream on a small tray and chill until ready to serve.

Presentation
Carefully cut the chilled cream into 4 rectangular portions to match the dimensions of the base. Gently position a portion of cream on each base and garnish as you wish with strawberries, sour cherries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, candied carrots or tomatoes, spice nougat, etc. giving each element a different shape so as to give the dessert an interesting three dimensional effect.