How to make Tahina, chocolate and pistachio cheesecake

(Comptoir Libanais)

Popular restaurant chain Comptoir Libanais founder shares another crowd-pleaser of a recipe from his latest cookbook - Feasts from the Middle East.

"This cheesecake uses dark chocolate, tahina and pistachios, all marbled together and spooned on top of a classic digestive-biscuit base. It’s a match made in heaven," Tony Kitous said.

"I discovered cheesecake when I moved to London, in 1988, in one of my first jobs, washing up and cleaning in a bakery run by a lovely Turkish family on the Walworth Road in Elephant and Castle. I hold very fond memories of working there, and I still pop in whenever I’m passing through south London," he added.

How to make Tahina, chocolate and pistachio cheesecake

Serves 12

Ingredients

For the base

• 150g digestive biscuits
• 50g pistachio nuts, toasted
• 125g butter, plus a little extra for greasing

For the topping

• 250g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
• 25g butter
• 250 ml double cream
• 50g runny honey
• 100g tahina
• 75g icing sugar
• Zest of 1 orange
• 600g mascarpone
• Cheese
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 250g cream cheese

To serve

• 25g pistachio nuts, chopped
• Halva, crumbled
• Toasted sesame seeds

Method

Grease and line a circular 20 – 24 cm spring form tin with some baking parchment.

Whizz the biscuits and pistachios in a food processor until the biscuits have become crumbs and the pistachios are finely chopped. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Tip the crushed biscuits into the pan, stir together, then tip everything into the prepared tin. Level it with the back of a spoon and chill.

Now prepare the marbled topping. Break up the chocolate and put in a large, heatproof bowl. Add the butter, 100 ml of the cream, the honey and tahina. Place over a pan of just-simmering water and leave for 5–10 minutes until the chocolate and butter have melted. Take a spoon and very gently stir everything together.

Meanwhile, put the rest of the cream, the icing sugar, orange zest, mascarpone, vanilla extract and cream cheese in a large bowl. Fold them together.

Take the melted chocolate mixture and drizzle it over the cream mixture, folding everything together until you have a marbled mixture. Spoon into the chilled cake tin, level the top and chill for 4 hours until set.

Loosen the tin and take off the paper around the edge. Slide a large fish slice under the cheesecake to loosen it and put it on a serving plate. Scatter the pistachio nuts, halva and toasted sesame seeds over the top and serve.

Feast from the Middle East, by Tony Kitous, is available to buy now (HQ, £20).