Ricotta Cheesecake > Normal Cheesecake

Plus: Pre-Batched Mezcal Negronis, How to Present Tinned Seafood, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Hey everyone,

I whipped up a ricotta cheesecake for a dinner party on Friday and it was a major event of a dessert. There’s the whole making it ahead — I started Thursday night — the drama of baking it (you want to stop when it jiggles), the overnight chill in the fridge, and then the un-molding in front of your guests.

Here’s a video I made of the whole affair:

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And since this recipe, which comes from my late friend Gina DePalma’s Dolce Italiano, is a multi-step process, I typed up the whole recipe for you and posted it on my semi-dormant (unless I have a recipe to share) blog. Click the button for the recipe.

This dinner party was for our old friends Mark, Diana, Rob, and Kath (Rob and Mark and Craig all went to film school together). Here’s everyone at the table:

For the entree, I made a sausage cassoulet summer-to-fall kind of thing with white beans and fresh tomatoes and corn… I’ll make a video about that tomorrow. Here’s a pic of it in process:

Before making that, I pre-batched a cocktail because Craig didn’t feel like making one that night.

Pre-batching cocktails is such a winning move… especially when the cocktail is equal parts mezcal, Campari, and white vermouth, as it is for a Mezcal Negroni.

I literally just mixed those three things together in a large measuring cup, funneled into a bottle, and added a little water to make up for the ice I wouldn’t need to stir this with because it would already be frozen. Let’s go to the tape:

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I loved how easy this was. When people got there, I just took the bottle out (needed to defrost a little), poured into tumblers with ice and orange peel, and that was that. If you’re a harried cook who thinks you’re too busy to make a cocktail at a dinner party, try pre-batching. It’s a game-changer.

With the cocktails, I served tinned seafood.

I had a tin of scallops from Spain and Fishwife Mackerel. I put those on a platter with the labels underneath, because they’re so pretty and help contextualize the raw fish you’re looking at. I put Dijon mustard in a little egg cup, gherkins in a little ramekin, oil-cured olives in another ramekin, and some radishes for freshness.

All-in-all, it’s a great way to go… especially if you don’t want to serve cheese as an appetizer with a giant ricotta cheesecake for dessert.

Yesterday we saw Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and had a great time.

If you’d told eleven year old me that they’d make a sequel to Beetlejuice I would’ve flipped out. I went in highly suspicious, but I really think Tim Burton channeled his younger self — the one who made Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Edward Scissorhands — and packed the movie full of imagination and fun.

And that’s the movie review portion of today’s newsletter.

Let’s look at some links:

• Apple doughnuts and pumpkin snickerdoodles from Edd Kimber (The Guardian);

• How to Make Tofu Mayonnaise (Eater);

• Why Does This Glass of Chardonnay Cost $21? (Grub Street)

• My talk with Jenny Rosenstrach about her great new cookbook (Instagram).

That’s all for today folks!

I’m flying to Chicago on Thursday for a wedding, so we’ll see if I can do a newsletter from an airplane.

Until then….

Your pal,
Adam