Even the children know about the benefits of cottage cheese. True, far from all of them agree to eat this product, except in the form of glazed curds. And housewives, as a rule, do not pay much attention to cottage cheese, considering it most often as an ingredient for the preparation of casseroles, dumplings, cottage cheese pancakes and toppings for buns. And completely in vain. Because of it you can cook a huge number of other dishes, in particular independent snacks. And to taste, they can also be very diverse - both sharp, salty, and sweet.
Any appetizer prepared from cottage cheese can surprise even the most capricious gourmet, especially if it had not been especially spoiled before with dishes made from this product. And surprise not only with your taste, but also with a very attractive and peculiar look.
Types of Snacks
This dairy product goes well with many ingredients that are used in the preparation of snacks in the form of various additives. He is equally good with fruits, and with fish, and with hot spices, and with vegetables, and with smoked meats. Cottage cheese with greens goes well (the recipe for preparing just such appetizers, and not one, we will give below).
Mixed with all kinds of fillers, it is often used in this form as a filling for tartlets, rolls and simply as a paste for spreading on a sandwich. Or it is the base for preparing a separate dish. Curd dishes can be not only cold, but also hot. In addition, depending on the ingredients, they can be prepared in the form of desserts, and in the form of snacks served to the table in front of the main hot dish.
An interesting feature of the product: the hostess, having at her disposal any one type of cottage cheese, say, the same cottage cheese with herbs, the recipe for creating a particular snack can modify it at her discretion. And to receive as a result a completely new dish. For example, start with this mixture zucchini or eggplant, tomato or pepper. And believe me, each dish will have an individual taste.
Well, now let's move directly to practice. And for starters, let's talk about how to cook a savory appetizer from cottage cheese.
Curd balls
To get a savory snack, usually combine the cottage cheese with garlic. The recipe, as a rule, does not limit anyone in the amount of the second ingredient, garlic is added to taste (the more it is, the sharper the food). As for the cottage cheese, then it will take half a kilogram to make the balls. And you need to take the product sufficiently dense and dry. So, the specified amount of cottage cheese is ground in a blender, garlic is crushed (preferably in the press), salted, and then half of the finely chopped bunch of dill is poured. If you wish, you can season the mixture with a pinch of curry. All carefully knead, and then sculpt the balls, each roll in the remaining chopped dill. Such an appetizer of cottage cheese - spicy, very beautiful - should at least spend an hour in the refrigerator. Then you can serve. By the way, if you don’t have time to sculpt the balls, you can just spread the mass on brown bread and serve the sandwiches.
Cottage cheese + greens
As we have already mentioned, this combination is quite popular. We offer to prepare a very beautiful cream of greens and cottage cheese. For half a kilogram of dry curd we take 10 branches of cilantro, parsley, basil and dill. Finely chop the greens, put the cottage cheese in a blender bowl, add the salt, pour two tablespoons of the cream and add the chopped greens. Then stir everything until the mass becomes mashed. The result is a very beautiful dish of amazing green color. If desired, they can be filled, for example, tartlets. Cottage cheese puree can be made hot if you add the same garlic to it.
Potato + cottage cheese
A very simple appetizer of cottage cheese, which belongs to the category of hot. Take a kilogram of potatoes, and it is desirable that the root crops are the same size. Peel and boil. While the potatoes are being cooked, it is necessary to grind the cottage cheese (it will be enough a bag weighing 200 g) with a tablespoon of butter, a pinch of salt and the same amount of pepper. Add finely chopped greens to the mass. Ready potatoes cut into halves, and along. And then put a curd on each slice. And immediately serve.
Appetizer with salmon
We take three hundred grams of salmon (you can replace it with any other red fish), finely chop, mix with a 200-gram bag of certainly dry cottage cheese. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Then pour in chopped dill. Knead. Further - at will. You can start tartlets, or you can spread lavash with paste and roll them into a roll. Or just make sandwiches with white bread. Well, for a regular, not a festive table, instead of salmon, you can even take fillet of salted herring. Believe me, it will turn out no less delicious.
Eggs ... from cottage cheese
Smoked ham (it will be enough a piece weighing 200 g) finely chopped with a knife. In a blender, mix half a kilogram of cottage cheese with three tablespoons of soft butter, chopped green onion and a couple of spoons of thick sour cream. Add the ham. Grate a piece of hard cheese. Then form oval dumplings from the curd mass, roll each in grated cheese. In order for the obtained "eggs" to keep in shape, they must be put in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Such an appetizer from cottage cheese, however, like many others, can also be used as a paste for sandwiches.
Cucumber boats
We take cucumbers, cut along.
We cut the bottom of each half so that the products are stable. We get the flesh. And fill the vacated space with the curd mass, grated in a blender together with cucumber pulp, several cloves of garlic, a bunch of greens and one bell pepper. Such a snack of cottage cheese is cooked not only with cucumbers. In the same way, you can make boats from eggplant or zucchini. Just before filling it with filling, they (already cut, but with pulp) should be baked either in the oven or in the microwave.
Chocolate curd balls
And finally - a sweet option.
If you take our recipe as a basis, and then at your discretion replace or add ingredients, you can always get a new cottage cheese treat. As for the basic version: to the cottage cheese (the same 200 g) add a tablespoon of sour cream and sugar (or, say, honey or syrup). Knead thoroughly. Spread a tablespoon of the mass on the palm of your hand, make a flat cake. Then we take any suitable dried fruit (for example, pitted dates, prunes or dried apricots) or walnuts (the same almonds). We put it in the middle and form a ball. Which after that you need to roll in grated chocolate (black, milk, mixed with coconut). After that, a sweet appetizer from the cottage cheese is sent to the refrigerator for an hour.