Sea-buckthorn and Amaretto cheesecake

There's a little deli in our neighbourhood, Delicato, and they sell a lovely cheesecake with a sea-buckthorn and Amaretto topping. A cheesecake so good that I immediately wanted to make something similar at home. They use a rich mascarpone layer in their cake, I went with my favourite cheesecake instead. A lovely and not-so-sweet baked cheesecake that uses one of the nature's superberries (Sea-buckthorn - the new acai berry?).

Sea-buckthorn and Amaretto cheesecake
(Toorjuustukook Amaretto-astelpajuželeega)
Serves 8

125 g Digestive-biscuits (about 8 cookies)
50 g butter, melted

Cheesecake layer:
600 g full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
3 large eggs
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Amaretto-seabuckthorn jelly:
200 g sea-buckthorn berries, fresh or frozen
3 Tbsp caster or soft brown sugar
3 to 4 Tbsp Amaretto
3 to 4 Tbsp hot water
4 gelatine leaves (and some cold water for soaking)

Preheat oven to 180°C/350F.
Grease a 24 cm/10 inch round springform/loose-bottomed cake tin with butter, line the base with parchment paper. Process biscuits into fine crumbs, add melted butter and combine. Press the cookie mixture over base and sides of the prepared tin. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until combined.
Pour over the biscuit base and bake in the middle of a preheated 350F/180C oven for 30 minutes, until the filling is more or less set (it shouldn't wobble too much, when you lightly shake the cake tin).
Remove from the oven and cool completely.
To make the jelly layer, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes.
Place the (defrosted, if necessary) berries into a blender and process until smooth. Press through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Season to taste with sugar and Amaretto.
Squeeze the gelatine leaves to remove excess cold water, then stir into hot water (about 4 Tbsp) until dissolved. Stir into the sea-buckthorn purée. Pour the mixture carefully over cooled cheesecake.
Place into the fridge for at least 4 hours to set.


Sea-buckthorn berries @ Tallinn Central Market, September 2007

More sea-buckthorn recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Sea-buckthorn jelly with kama mascarpone cream
Sea-buckthorn sorbet
Topless sea-buckthorn and apple tart

Dill and mustard sauce - hovmästarsås - for smoked salmon or gravlax

This Swedish dill and mustard sauce - gravlaxsås/hovmästarsås/senapssås - was one of our favourite sauces this summer. We served this with smoked salmon and gravlax to our guests quite often, and never got tired of it. Although the season for al fresco lunches is sadly over, there's nothing that keeps us from enjoying thinly sliced smoked salmon indoors. Long and leisurely Sunday brunches, anyone?

The sauce keeps in the fridge for a few days, covered.

Swedish dill and mustard sauce
(Tilli-sinepikaste)
Makes about a cup



2 Tbsp sweet Swedish mustard (you can use Honey Dijon)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp caster sugar
0.5 tsp salt
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1-1.5 Tbsp white wine vinegar
200 ml mild oil (rapeseed, grapeseed, canola)
a small bunch of fresh dill, finely chopped

To serve:
smoked salmon or gravlax

Put the mustards, sugar, salt, pepper and vinegar into a bowl, and mix until the sugar has dissolved.
Using a small whisk, whisk in the oil little by litte. Finally, mix in the chopped dill.

See similar recipes:
Anne's Food
Rosa's Yummy Yum

Nami-Nami on Spanish TV

Free Wi-Fi: Estonia. Report by Ángel Varela Pena. (Andrew Poole voice-over)



Earlier this year (in May, to be precise), a Spanish film-maker Ángel spent couple of hours with us, eating rhubarb cake and filming us for a report on free wi-fi and work-life balance. The report was aired on Spanish TV in September, and here's the clip for you to see (Nami-Nami section begins at about 2:10).

I'm making Anne's mango shrimp, sing praises to my dear friend Ximena, show off my "Nami-Nami cookbook", mention Nami-Nami gardening blog, and leaf through the pages of the book where this popular apple cake recipe comes from.