From the Kitchen; Moving into the Cottage, Cheese

This is another; “Thinking Outside the Pot”, thing. I was watching the Food Channel or the Cooking Channel can’t remember which but I do remember the show was about cheesecake. The show was all about the different types and styles of cheesecake, and some cheesecake history. Unfortunately if you want to know about cheesecake you will have to find a re-run of that show or do a search for cheesecake on the internet. So why did I bring it up to begin with? Well because one of the styles of cheesecake got me to thinking a whole new way about cottage cheese. Seems this style of cheesecake was made with half cottage cheese and half cream cheese. Perhaps I have overlooked the value of cottage cheese. Later on in the show another style of cheesecake used the half and half method but this time with sour cream and cream cheese.

I am no baker and like a lot of cooks do not like to bake as much as I like to cook. However I do like to mix things up every now and then and this cottage cheese thing really had me intrigued. I could dry out the cottage cheese or perhaps I should say, take away most of the liquid; then use it instead of cream cheese in dips and things. I might be able to sub out cottage cheese instead of sour cream in recipes where lumps are not an issue. Wow, what a great idea; then all those cottage cheese thoughts went away when the program ended because my retired brain can only hold so much information at one time and I had naps to think about.

A couple of days pass, it was breakfast time and I was doing a spinach and cheese omelet as per a request from my lovely wife. Normally I start any omelet by cracking 2 eggs into a bowl with a splash of water, sour cream, and whatever spices I am in the mood for that day. Next I use my whisk and whip and whip making my omelet more French style. Then I fold in the finely chopped, whatever I am going to add to make my omelet. In this case that was going to be spinach and parmesan grated cheese. Once it is all mixed I pour the bowl into a sauté pan making sure to cover the bottom of the pan. Put a lid on the sauté pan and walk away for a few minutes because I am cooking on medium low heat. FYI, the reason for medium low heat and a lid is so the middle of the omelet will cook before the bottom of the omelet burns or turns too brown. Once the edges are firm and I am able to fold the omelet in half, I do so adding grated cheddar on top and re-cover until the cheddar in melted.

On this morning I was all set to do just that when I remembered the TV show. So when it came time to add in the sour cream I drained off a heaping teaspoon of cottage cheese. Then just to be different instead of a splash of water I added in 2 little packages of our favorite taco sauce left over from Taco Bell take-out. Then whipped the heck out of it French style and did the rest as usual.

Now the real reason I added the mild taco sauce was because I was going to add mild salsa as a topping to our omelets. Something Sharon and I do often. What I found was that using cottage cheese made the omelet sweeter than normal. But was it ever good. It changed the whole Spanish, spinach omelet experience. Now I can’t wait to try this cottage cheese thing on something else. I know; pancakes. I’ll keep you posted.