Savoury cheesecake with chilli, tomato, and basil

I’ll be honest: I didn’t know that something like a savoury cheesecake even existed! But when I received a link to this recipe earlier this week, I knew that I had to try it. They had me at cheese, tomato and basil. That has to be one of my all-time favourite combinations of ingredients: on a sandwich, in an omelette, on a pizza, with pasta, and of course on its own. You can’t go wrong! AND this recipe is low-carb!

I didn’t plan to modify this recipe at all, but when I went to buy the ingredients and they didn’t have ricotta, I could for the life of me not figure what to substitute it with. In my defense, it was early in the morning and I’d had only 1 cup of coffee by then, so even Mr Google was not able to help me. I ended up substituting the ricotta with cream cheese. In hindsight, cottage cheese would have been a better choice. None the less, it worked out well and produced a deliciously silky, creamy, super rich savoury cheesecake. Oh, and I find it really hard to justify the cost of pine nuts, so I used my go-to in this situation: toasted sunflower seeds.

You will need

For the Cheesecake:

450 g ricotta (or if you’re like me, 450g of cream cheese)
1 cup plain cream cheese – at room temperature
1 Tbs wholegrain mustard
1 Tbs garlic – finely chopped
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 small green chilli, finely chopped
1 large egg
¾ tsp salt
pinch white pepper

For the Topping:

500g rosa tomatoes
1 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs spoon of toasted sunflower seeds and basil to serve

Method

Seriously, this could not be easier!

For the Cheesecake:

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Prepare a springform cake tin by lining the base with baking paper and greasing.

Mix all the cheesecake ingredients thoroughly using an electric mixer. Then spoon into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool in the tin, and refrigerate until you’re ready for the next step!

For the Topping:

Preheat the grill to 200°C.

Toss the tomatoes in some oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place them under the grill until they have caramelized – around 10-15 minutes. Then allow to cool.

To Assemble:

Once you’re ready to serve, remove the cake from the springform tin and arrange the tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with basil leaves and roasted sunflower seeds.