This is a restaurant-quality recipe that will absolutely wow your guests. I followed another user's advice and lined the bottom of the springform pan with parchment and hit it with a little cooking spray. I placed the pan in a 9x13 water bath. When the cake was just about done, I let it rest in the oven with the door ajar until it cooled down. I don't know if it was the water bath or the gradual cooling, but I didn't have any cracks or splitting so I have no reason to change a thing next time!! This was my first cheesecake attempt, and it came out absolutely PERFECT... Thanks for a wonderful recipe!

Reviewed On: Dec. 19, 2009

Whenever I try an Italian restaurant for the first time, I always test out their spaghetti and meatballs. There is nothing better than a classic dish, perfected... So I tried this recipe hoping I could perfect it at home! These meatballs were tasty, but there are some things I'd definitely change next time. I parbaked them for 10 minutes like another reviewer suggested, and finished cooking in a homemade marinara sauce until done (160*F internal temp). Unfortunately, the meatballs rendered a lot of grease and leached parmesan into the sauce, clouding it. Definitely cook them fully before adding to any sauce or gravy! The only other thing I would change is to cut down the proportion of cheese in the recipe... it was a big overwhelming for my taste.

Reviewed On: Oct. 30, 2009

Great base recipe... The flavor was perfect! I used skinless chicken thighs and seared them off first for more flavor. I also rendered the fat out of the Andouille sausage. Halfway through the cooktime, I removed the chicken thighs and took the meat off the bones. Like other reviewers, I added the shrimp at the end to prevent overcooking it. Other than that I followed the recipe exactly, and it was delicious! However, I was a little disappointed with the texture of the rice. It was overcooked and a little too soupy (for my tastes at least!). Normally long grain white rice takes ~30 min to cook, so 1.5 hours does seem overkill in hindsight. Since I like my rice on the drier side, next time I'll reduce the stock by 1 cup (or omit the juices from the tomatoes) and cut the cooktime down to an hour, or until the rice is just al dente. Will definitely make again!!

Reviewed On: May 16, 2008