Recipe Index

Ingredients

• 3 large beetroot, skin on and scrubbed
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• ½oz sprigs of thyme
• ½ tsp black peppercorns
• 1¾oz caster sugar
• 18fl oz red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp coarse sea salt
• 1½oz unsalted butter, fridge-cold and cut into ¾in cubes, plus extra, melted, for greasing
• 1¾oz pumpkin seeds, toasted
• 5 digestive biscuits, roughly crumbled
• 1½oz Parmesan, coarsely grated
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾oz unsalted butter
• 1 leek, thinly sliced
• 12oz cream cheese
• 6oz crème fraîche
• 3fl oz double cream
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• ¾oz chives, finely snipped
• 1 tbsp chopped basil
• ½ tsp salt
• 3½oz Stilton, roughly crumbled
• 4 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
• 1½oz runny honey (mixed, optionally, with a few drops of truffle oil)
• 1oz hazelnuts, toasted and lightly crushed
• ½oz baby basil

Method

1. Put the whole scrubbed beetroot in a lidded saucepan with the crushed garlic, bay leaf, thyme sprigs, black peppercorns, caster sugar, red wine vinegar and coarse sea salt, pour over 3¼ cups of water so the beetroot is submerged, and add a little more water if needed.
2. Bring the beetroot pan to the boil, reduce the heat to medium, and cook it covered for 35 to 40 minutes, until the beetroot is soft, then leave everything to cool completely in the liquid.
3. Lift the cooled beetroot out, peel it and cut it into ½ in dice, then strain the pickling liquid back into the pan and reduce it over medium heat for about 25 minutes, until it halves to roughly 2½ cups.
4. Let the reduced pickling liquid cool, pour it over the diced beetroot, cover the bowl and chill the pickled beetroot in the fridge for 24 hours.
5. Grease eight 5 in ramekins or soufflé tins with melted butter and set a circle of baking paper in the base of each one.
6. Pulse the cold butter cubes, toasted pumpkin seeds, crumbled digestive biscuits, grated Parmesan and salt in a food processor to fine crumbs, divide the crumbs between the ramekins, and press them down evenly and firmly for the cheesecake bases.
7. Heat the oven to 400°F, melt the remaining butter in a small saucepan, and soften the thinly sliced leek in it over medium heat, stirring from time to time, then leave the leek to cool.
8. Mix the cooled leek in a large bowl with the cream cheese, crème fraîche, double cream, crushed garlic, snipped chives, chopped basil and salt until the filling forms a smooth paste.
9. Fold the crumbled Stilton and the lightly beaten eggs gently through the leek and cream cheese mixture, then pour the filling into the crumb-lined ramekins.
10. Bake the individual cheesecakes for 25 to 30 minutes, until a skewer pushed into the middle of one comes out clean.
11. Serve the blue cheesecakes in their ramekins with the strained pickled beetroot spooned over or alongside, plus a drizzle of runny honey, the toasted crushed hazelnuts and the baby basil leaves.

Prep: 12 h · Cook: 2 h

Nutrition (per serving, where published)

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient data