Fiadone is one the most traditional desserts that the island of Corsica is known for. It resembles a cheesecake in that it's made with soft cheese and sugar, but it doesn't taste at all like one. Indeed, while most dishes become more than the sum of its parts, I'd say this fiadone tasted exactly like its parts: eggy and ricottaish, it was like a combination of a very light flan and a cheesecake. It was also not as sweet as I would have liked. Plus, while the cake rose nicely in the oven, it fell down when we took it out.

All that said, I'm sure that the falling was my fault. Baking requires precise measurements and, unfortunately, in an effort to make money and fool consumers, ricotta cheese in the US is no longer sold in 1 lb containers. Nope, it comes now in 15 oz containers - so my choice was to either buy 3 and be left with 13 oz of ricotta - or just use two containers and hope for the best. I did also, and by eye, reduce the other ingredients a little bit - but I guess I should have been more precise.

We did eat the whole cheesecake, it wasn't that bad, but I wouldn't make it again.

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Fiadone Ingredients zest of 2 lemons, grated 2 lbs. ricotta cheese 6 eggs, separated 2/3 cup sugar 2 tsp. vanilla extract powdered sugar fresh fruit Instructions Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a springform pan. Blanch the lemon zest, put it in cold water and drain well. Cream the ricotta cheese in a food processor until smooth. Beat the egg yolks, the sugar and vanilla extract in an electric mixer at high speed for 3 minutes. Gradually incorporate the ricotta cheese and the lemon zest, beating at low speed. Beat until smooth. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Put the egg whites in a clean bowl for the electric mixer, and beat at high speed until stiff but not dry. Whisk one-third of the egg whites into the ricotta mixture, by hand. Carefully fold in the remaining egg whites using a rubber spatula. Make sure the mixture is well blended but be careful to not overblend. Pour the batter into the pan and place in the center of the oven. Bake until the cheesecake has a deep golden brown color, pulls away from the sides of the pan, and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean - about 1.5 hours. Cool Sprinkle powdered sugar on the fiadone before serving, and garnish with fresh fruit.

Adapted from a recipe at Recipe Land.