Everything White - White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cheesecake

Graham Cracker-Crumb Crust:

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• ¼ - ½ cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 4-5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Cheesecake:

• 3 packages (8-ozs) cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3-4 ozs white chocolate melted
• Optional garnishes: Chopped macadamia nuts, white chocolate shavings, toasted coconut

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Prepare Graham Cracker-Crumb Crust: In 8 1⁄2- to 9-inch springform pan, mix crumbs, nuts, butter, and sugar until evenly moistened (may need to add extra T of butter). Press mixture firmly onto bottom and side of pan. Bake 10 minutes; cool on wire rack.

3. Prepare Cheesecake: In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in flour and vanilla until well combined, scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low; beat in eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in milk and melted chocolate just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl.

4. Pour batter into pan. Bake until edge is set and center jiggles slightly, 55 to 60 minutes. Run thin knife around edge of cheesecake to prevent cracking during cooling. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or up to overnight. Garnish with nuts, chocolate shavings, and coconut. Remove side of pan to serve.

Everything White - White Cheddar Cheese Ball

I kind of winged this one so the amounts are my best guesstimations...

Ingredients

1 package cream cheese

1/2 can Cougar Gold Cheese (or 1/2 lb sharp white cheddar)

1 to 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1/2 sweet onion diced

2 to 3 Trader Joe's frozen garlic cubes (or minced cloves)

1 tsp Montreal Chicken Seasoning (or some other savory seasoning)

dash onion salt

Directions

Caramelize diced onion with garlic. Remove onion from pan and toast the coconut in the drippings. Save 3/4 of the coconut for the outside of the ball. Mix all the remaining ingredients and shape into a ball. (it helps to let the cream cheese soften up a little first) Press the reserved coconut into the surface of the ball and serve with broiled slices of your bread of choice. (I used pugliese)

Everything White - baked gnocchi with cheese

serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream
6 ounces fontina or Taleggio cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (I used from the jar)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Unsalted butter, for baking dish
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 to 1/2 packages gnocchi

Directions

1. 1. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until just simmering. Add two-thirds of the cheese; stir until melted. Stir in the nutmeg and the pepper. Remove from heat; cover to keep warm.
2. Preheat the oven to 400. Butter an 8-inch-square baking dish (I used a deep round dish); set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add the salt. Add half the gnocchi; when they rise to the top (after about 2 minutes), continue to cook until tender, about 15 seconds more. Transfer the gnocchi with a slotted spoon to the buttered dish. Repeat the process with the remaining gnocchi.
3. Pour the cheese sauce over the gnocchi, and gently toss. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top (I used parmesan cheese also). Bake the gnocchi until golden brown, about 25 minutes.
   

Everything White - Arugula, Caramelized Onion & Feta bites

Ingredients:

1 Tbl olive oil
1 red onion
3 cups arugula, washed, dried and coarsely chopped
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
baguettes, crackers, or tortillas (your choice)
3 oz. basil, sun-dried tomato crumbled feta

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put oil and onions in a medium skillet and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and caramelized (about 15 min). Turn heat up to medium and add the arugula. Cook until the arugula is wilted (about 1-2 min). Season with salt and pepper.

Place the baguette slices or crackers on a baking sheet and top each with some arugula/onion mixture. Crumble feta on top of each and bake for approx. 10 min. Mmmmm...

Everything White - Rosemary and White Bean Soup

Ingredients

1 pound dried white cannellini beans (I used canned)
4 cups sliced yellow onions (3 onions)
1/4 cup good olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large branch fresh rosemary (6 to 7 inches)
2 quarts chicken stock
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a medium bowl, cover the beans with water by at least 1-inch and leave them in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight. Drain. (not neccessary if you use canned)

In a large stockpot over low to medium heat, saute the onions with the olive oil until the onions are translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook over low heat for 3 more minutes. Add the drained white beans, rosemary, chicken stock, and bay leaf. Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until the beans are very soft. Remove the rosemary branch and the bay leaf. Pass the soup through the coarsest blade of a food mill, or place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until coarsely pureed. Return the soup to the pot to reheat and add salt and pepper, to taste. Serve hot (which I obviously did not).

Everything White - Cauliflower Gratin

INGREDIENTS
1/4 c butter
2 heads Belgian endive cut lengthwise into sixths
1 c semolina pasta or Israeli (large pearl) couscous
2 large heads cauliflower cut into florets
1/4 c flour
3 c milk
2 T chopped fresh marjoram or oregano
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3 c finely grated Gruyere cheese
1/4 c coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS

Place oven rack in lower third of oven.
Pre-heat to 400 deg

Butter 1 1/2 quart, deep, wide dish.
Put endive in bottom.
Arrange pasta or couscous over endive.
Top with cauliflower.

Melt butter over medium head. Whisk in flour. Reduce head to medium low and cook 2 minutes stirring continuously. Whisk in milk and cook until mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in Gruyere until smooth. Pour over cauliflower. Sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Place dish on baking sheet.
Bake 30 minutes.
Sprinkle with Parmesan.
Reduce temp to 350 deg and bake until cauliflower is tender about 40 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes.

Organizing Recipes....

Rob is traveling for work right now, and one of the projects I wanted to complete while he was gone was to organize my recipes. There has been a lot of great food at Girl's Dinner the last few years, but I have very few recipes to show for it! I am as guilty as anyone of not providing copies of my recipes. Can't organize what you don't have so, welcome to Girl's Dinner Club blog page! My thought is that this could be a great place to post our recipes (you only have to write it once and don't need to make copies) as well as an easy way to go back and find a recipe that you want to make again.
What better time to start our on line cook book than January? Maybe some day we will catch up on old recipes too.

I am happy to post recipes for you if you email them to me, or feel free to post them yourself. For ease of finding things later title your post with the theme and your dish name -- for example, "Everything White - Cauliflower Gratin" As long as you post during the month that your dish goes with it should archive to that month and year as well.

If this is a not so practical idea let me know -- I won't be crushed, I'll just move on to organizing something else:)