Rustic biltong and three cheeses Cheesecake

Savoury tarts and quiches are very popular again. Almost every magazine that I have read in the last couple of months featured at least one savoury tart or quiche recipe. 

It is also the same in Blogland. Nina from My-easy-cooking posted a recipe for a Biltong and butternut quiche and Ann from I love cooking posted a Cheesy onion and herb quiche recently. I think there were more posts on this subject which I can not remember at the moment! 

A while back I posted a recipe for a Brocolli cheesecake and asked whether one should call it a savoury tart, a quiche or a savoury cheesecake.  I have since investigated this and apparently the following is the difference:

Tarts can be a sweet or a savoury.

A Quiche is always a savoury dish and is normally deeper that a tart and always has a topping made from eggs and milk or cream. It is also always open (without a top crust).

Savoury cheesecakes contain either cream or cottage cheese or something similar. The filling is mixed together with the cream or cottage cheese and the egg custard and poured into the crust. It is never layered like a Quiche. Interesting, hey?

But whatever these are called it makes for a quick and easy meal! This Cheesecake was inspired by a Biltong and Cheese Quiche recipe that was published in the August/September 2011 addition of Sarie Kos. 

For the Crust:

Ingredients:

375ml cake flour

a pinch of salt

125g butter, cold and cubed

45ml cold water 

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC. Grease a 20cm loose bottomed cake pan.

Sift the flour and salt together and place into a food processor with the butter. Process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the water and process to form a dough.

Remove the dough from the food processor and knead lightly.

Roll out to a circle and line the base and sides of the cake pan. It doesn’t need to be perfect – the more rustic the better.

Place in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Bake blind in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool down slightly. Reduce the oven temperature to 160ºC. 

For the filling:

Ingredients:

250g creamed cottage cheese

150g feta cheese, crumbled

40g finely grated parmesan cheese

200g grated cheddar cheese

250ml cream

3 extra large eggs, beaten

200g sliced beef biltong

2.5ml grounded nutmeg

salt

freshly grated parmesan (optional) 

Mix the cottage cheese, feta cheese, finely grated parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, cream and eggs together.

Add ¾ of the sliced biltong and the nutmeg. Season lightly with the salt and mix through.

Spoon into the prepared crust and bake for 40 minutes in the 160ºC oven or until the filling has set and the top is slightly brown.

Let the cake cool down for at least 15 minutes in the pan.

Transfer to a serving dish and top with the remaining biltong slices and some extra parmesan.

Serve lukewarm with a side salad. 

Note: You can use shop bought shortcrust pastry to speed up the process. 

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