Spring Veggie Cottage Cheese Dip
I have been a cottage cheese SUPER FAN for about the last month. I won’t lie to you and act like it hasn’t sort of kind of grossed me out for the last 27.5 years. BUT that being said, I have been seeing it in all sorts of recipes lately so I put my big girl pants on and said “hey sister, lets give it a try”. And WTH it friggin GOOD!! Good Culture is the only brand I’m interested in btw, but obviously use YOUR favorite.
If you’re like me and late to the cottage cheese game because maybe you’re a bit bothered by the goopiness of it. Maybe the fact that it’s often marketed as a gym bro protein snack gives you the ick. Maybe your friend from elementary school used to eat it for breakfast and the sound of them smacking still haunts you (and maybe that one’s specific to me). Well, hear me out. I had never actually given it a try before a few weeks ago (shame on me for hating it before even trying it). But upon my first bite I realized that it basically just tastes like stracciatella, which is the beautiful creamy cheesy mess that is housed inside a smokin’ hot ball of burrata. Which also happens to be my favorite cheese. Once my brain made that connection I literally could not stop consuming it.
ANYWHO!! Here I loaded some fresh spring veg onto a good schmear of it with lots of olive oil and lemon and then dipped some top notch crusty sourdough into it. 10/10 lunch. and it only took 20 minutes.
Oh also I would like to mention that the only cooking you have to do is blanching the peas and toasting the bread/walnuts, and when the weather is hot I love minimal amount of time that I am going to be spending with hot kitchen gadgets turned on.
Ingredients
this serves 2, but only if you’re HUNGRY, otherwise it could serve 2-3 as an appetizer
4-5 asparagus stalks, thinly peeled into ribbons using a potato peeler. the fattest stalks in the bunch will be the easiest to peel.
1/3 cup peas, frozen or fresh
roughly 3-ish tablespoons of radish, cut into match sticks (I used watermelon radish for the pretty pop of pink color they add)
2 tablespoons each of mint, dill, and chives; roughly chopped
1/2 a shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 a lemon, juiced (plus more to taste)
4 tablespoons good olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1/2 cup cottage cheese, again Good Culture is the best!!
salt and pepper to taste
sourdough toast for serving
Instructions
Blanch the peas! Get a medium pot of very well salted water up to a boil over high heat. While your water boils, make an ice bath by grabbing a medium boil and filling with ice water. Once your water is boiling add your peas and set a timer for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds drain the peas and put them in the ice bath to stop any further cooking (we don’t want mushy peas). Once cool strain again and let dry in the strainer.
Toast your nuts! Add your nuts to a dry/cool pan and place over medium heat. Add just a touch (about 1/2 teaspoon) of olive oil to help with even browning and toss. Keep the nuts moving around in the pan until they begin to turn a deep golden brown. It should take about 3 minutes. Dump onto a paper towel lined plate to cool.
Add the peas, asparagus ribbons, radish, herbs, and shallot to a bowl and toss in the lemon juice and olive oil. Season with about 1 teaspoon of salt and lots of fresh ground black pepper. Toss together and taste. The veggies should taste bright and fresh. Add more salt, pepper, or lemon to taste.
Swoosh the cottage onto the bottom of a bowl, dump the veggies along with the dressing that might be left in the bowl on top of the cottage cheese. and garnish with the walnuts and another drizzle of good olive oil.
Serve with sourdough bread, toasted or not (dealers choice!!) for dipping.
