Paprika and cherries, all in one day

My husband and I made two recipes from the July 2010 issue of BBC GoodFood magazine today, and both were terrific. They were Paprika Chicken Ciabattas and Baked Cherry Cheesecake.

Paprika Chicken Ciabattas were an absolute cinch to put together (or so my husband tells me – he made them!)
   The results, for such little time and effort required, were amazing: The chicken was juicy and went well with the toasted buns and lettuce.
   The secret ingredient of the recipe, though, is the spread that’s put on the toasted buns – mayonnaise mixed with some crushed garlic. Don’t skip this!
   The recipe calls for a ciabatta loaf. When I couldn’t find this, I bought some wide whole-wheat submarine buns, and they worked well.
   It seems the recipe doesn't ask for putting another ciabatta half on top to make a sandwich -- that's what my husband and I did.
   The recipe also calls for smoked paprika, not to be confused with regular paprika. In Canada, the McCormick line of spices has smoked paprika, and it is also found in gourmet food stores.
   The ciabattas is generally family-friendly. I could see most people over the age of 10 going for them.
   They would work for an informal backyard get-together – you could make a platter of these and put them out for the gang.

Baked Cherry Cheesecake is a recipe submitted to GoodFood magazine by one of its readers, who said she had made it more than 100 times because it was such a favorite among friends and family.
   It’s a lot like a dessert my mother makes, with a cream cheese middle and berry topping.
   Don’t let the word “cheesecake” scare you off. There’s absolutely nothing complicated about this recipe. I was actually a little shocked by how incredibly easy it is!
   The recipe calls for “light soft cheese” – that’s cream cheese here in North America. It also calls for “caster sugar” – that’s superfine sugar, sometimes labelled berry sugar or extra fine granulated sugar. The “springform tin” – that’s a springform pan.
   I was able to find the called-for digestive biscuits in the cookie aisle of the supermarket.
   Don't worry about pressing up the cookie crust all the way up the sides of the springform pan. I could only push it up a little way. The cheesecake stays together nicely regardless of the height of the crust on the sides.
   Although the recipe doesn’t have an instruction to do this, I thought it might make things even easier, if it was possible, to use a food processor while making the crust.
   The recipe says to combine 12 crushed digestive biscuits with melted butter and caster sugar. I placed these ingredients together and whizzed them up in a food processor, and that made easy work of creating the crumb crust.