A Wish Come True

5/03/09: Spanish Chicken with Pasta and The Ultimate Cheesecake with Warm Blueberry Lemon Sauce

• Sources: Chicken recipe--southernfood.about.com. Cheesecake recipe--foodtv.com. I made the Spanish chicken with pasta before, check it out here.

• Defining moments: First ever cheesecake. Man, I never thought I would bake this particular cheesecake! I saw Tyler Florence, a chef on the Food Network channel, make his version of the ultimate cheesecake around two years ago. It is really the only dish I saw on t.v. that I drooled over. :) After I watched the show (Tyler's Ultimate) I thought to myself, "I never will be able to make it, , I don't know how to use a spring-form pan, I've never done a hot water bath before, and thick and syrupy blueberry sauce? No way!" But I did it and the preparation turned out to be really simple and easy to do. I would have to say it is simpler than pie.
• What I learned and modifications: I didn't follow the cheesecake directions exactly so here is what I did. Instead of a 8" spring-form pan I used a 10". Why? Because that is the only one we have! Since I adjusted the pan size I adjusted the amount of some of the ingredients. Here is my ingredient list:
  

Crust:
21 graham crackers
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 and 2 tbsp. butter, melted

Filling:
2 1/2 blocks cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 pint sour cream
1 lemon, zested (I used the cheese grater for this step)
1 tbsp. vanilla

Warm Lemon Blueberry Sauce:
2 1/2 cups blueberries
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 tbsp. sugar (recipe calls for more, but my goodness, do our homegrown blueberries need to be sweeter? Thanks Papa for planting those bushes!!!!!)

• How it tasted? Everything was superb! I used the tricolor type pasta for the chicken dish, everyone loved it. The cheesecake was light and airy and the added lemon really made it special.
• How about a 2nd time? Yes, for both.