As veterans of several state fairs, at Endless Simmer we know there’s just about no food that can’t stand for a little frying.
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Yes, it’s good. Yes, it’s better battered and fried.
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These pretty zucchini blossoms will be showing up at the far mar before you know it. You know what to do.
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Fine, maybe this one didn’t work out so well, but you know we’ll be trying again.
Look how beautiful and pink that drink is. It’s just gorgeous. I wanted this calcium-filled liquid to taste as good as it looked. But I think I took it one dairy too far.
Like most weekday breakfasts, this one started simply: a blender, yogurt and frozen strawberries. But I barely had any yogurt left so I reopened the fridge. What else could I throw in this? I spied milk. Of course, milk lends itself perfectly to smoothies. Problem is, well, there are two problems. One, I hate milk and don’t like a lot of it in anything I consume. And two, there wasn’t that much milk left and I wanted to save it for my boyfriend’s cereal. I added a splash, but my smoothie begged for more ingredients. So there it was. The final dairy left in my fridge that I thought was somewhat suitable for drinking: cottage cheese.
Clearly, I was wrong. Cottage cheese consumed the entire smoothie, even covering that signature yogurt tang. I gagged to swallow the pink liquid down my throat.
So let this be a warning: keep your smoothies to a two dairy minimum.
It’s been happening more this winter. Last Saturday Bennett and I stayed in and watched a high-pitched, giggling Mozart in Amadeus. And this Saturday, after a large group birthday dinner for a friend, we snuck off for our sweats and lumpy couch; I pined for young (handsome and bumbling) Hugh Grant and attacked the acting ability of Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral. And is it just me, but wasn’t it difficult to determine the (link is a spoiler!) gay couple until the very end? I guess that’s 1994 for you.
Because of our tame night, breakfast became more than the usual scrambled eggs and bagels. I decided our first meal should include vegetables, particularly sweet potatoes, after I read this glowing article from the NYT.
Eggs and Sweet Potatoes with Cottage Cheese-Chipotle Sauce
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Tom Colicchio was seriously mean last week when he pounded Jacqueline about how she didn’t know the recipe of her (failed) chicken liver mousse after preparing it hundreds of times. Jackie – I feel your pain. I have simmered enough bulgur wheat over the years that I should remember the proportions of water to grain and its cooking time. In fact, the first recipe I ever shared on Endless Simmer was for a salad with bulgur wheat.
But I still googled for a recipe. And this is when I found an awesome idea: cook bulgur with chickpeas. Because I never muster the forethought of soaking and boiling dried beans days ahead of when I would consume them, I always turn to canned beans. I don’t think to prep them very much. But now, I will think different. The Second Lunch provided guidance to cook a big batch of this bulgur wheat and chickpea combo and save it throughout the week for a few different meals. It took her up on it. Her timing was right on. But more, the chickpeas became ultra tender and not chalky as they sometimes can be coming right out of the can. So thank you, The Second Lunch. I dedicate this salad to you.
Raw Kale Salad with Bulgur, Chickpeas and Avocado in a Cottage Cheese-Red Wine Vinegar Dressing
Sorry, I had to name everything in the title of this salad. All of the ingredients are too important not to mention. Amongst my friends raw kale salad is becoming a major topic of conversation. Raw kale is not bitter like some greens and can take a huge smacking of an aggressively flavored dressing; the green just won’t wilt under its weight.
I decided to jump on the trend. On top of raw kale add cooked (like this) bulgur wheat and chickpeas, chunks of avocado, scallions and salt and pepper. In a small bowl mix two spoonfuls of cottage cheese with salt, pepper and red wine vinegar and pour over salad. (I asked, it’s okay to add cottage cheese to salad.)
At first, I had no idea what to do with cottage cheese, so I turned it into a sandwich. But unfortunately, the cottage that I bought was too tangy to eat by the spoonful (which was its intended purpose). So then I did what any respectable human being would do when they have no idea how to make something edible: I fried cottage cheese.
80 was so pleased with my frying—and wanting to eat it by the spoonful, like in his youth—that he bought another tub of it. This cottage cheese was eat-it-out-of-the-container worthy, but I still wanted to figure out new uses.
Like every night, I rummaged through my kitchen. And there were frozen peas. I totally hate peas. They do absolutely nothing for me. Yes, I know, they’re great fresh from the garden. But those aren’t available in the District in February. I’m not even sure why I bought them, in fact, I was fairly pisted when I saw them in there. But I went with it anyway. Peas and cottage cheese, please?
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– Thanks for all the homemade pasta tips. Sounds like The Pioneer Woman is our go-to source. Other ideas? Keep ’em coming.
– You keep submitting those funky-ass cottage cheese recipes, we’ll keep publishing them. Jay:
A little late to the game, but I’ve got a weird one…I eat A LOT of it.
1 cup Cottage Cheese
1-2 tbsp Sweet Relish
Mix.Want to be really gross, er, fancy? Mix in some finely diced beef jerky. I kid you not, it’s awesome, but I can only vouch for my brand of cottage cheese: Friendship. It’s like the Fage of cottage cheese, very thick and doesn’t need to be strained so it’s a little more “recipe ready”. Though I’d like to try this with those Rachel’s flavors if I could find them.
– Finally, Sara coins a healthy new food philosophy.
Thanks to this post, I’m now a poutinatarian.
(Photo: imipolexG)
– Jenna is on the “respect vanilla” train:
Awhile ago I made vanilla ice cream with a Tahitian vanilla bean and it was A-mazing. Like, vanilla does get a bad rap; people call it “boring” or unimaginative. But when you have the real stuff you realize that it’s this incredibly complex, nuanced, subtle fascinating flavor. We should give vanilla more respect.
– The cottage cheese chronicles never end. Nicky:
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