Savory cheesecake with Cretan rusks, anthotyro cheese and cherry tomatoes

Cheesecake is, along with tarts, one of the more flexible and diverse recipes that have ever been created. Whether sweet or savory – or even better, sweet & savory! -it’s delicious and very easy to make, a true people pleaser. Today, our inspiration for it was our Legume bites

A recipe from our favorite Madame Gâteaux.

What we will need:

For a 16 cm cheesecake

140 gr traditional legume bites Ntourountous
60 gr butter, unsalted

For the filling:

400 gr anthotyro cheese (*see notes)
350 gr cream cheese, full fat
a few twigs of fresh oregano, finely chopped (*see notes)
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
25 cherry tomatoes on the vine
extra olive oil, to drizzle

Execution:

For the base:

Cover the bottom of a 16 cm diameter and 6 cm height pastry ring with aluminum foil and place it on a big plate.
In the food processor, beat the rusks to powder and transfer them to a big bowl.
Melt the butter and pour it on the rusks.
Mix very well and spread the mixture inside the pastry ring, pressing well and smoothing with a spatula.
Place the base in the fridge for 30’ to harden.

For the filling and serving:

In the mixer’s bowl, beat the cream cheese and anthotyro until homogenised.
Add the oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper and beat until incorporated.
Pour the mixture in the pastry ring and smoothen with a spatula.
Place the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 1 h.
In the meantime, place the cherry tomatoes in a tray, lightly salt them and drizzle with good quality olive oil.
Bake at 180 degrees, until softened.
Demould the cheesecake and garnish with the tomatoes and a little bit of fresh oregano.