RCP: Herbed Cheese Spread

[Jenise]

This is a Lyonnaise thing I actually remember having there, and loving, though I wasn't entirely certain what it was made out of. This month's Food and Wine has a recipe for it which I made a batch of last night for guests. Everybody loved it. They suggest pureed cottage cheese or quark: I used the former, a low fat organic version, and strained the cheese first thinking I could add moisture back but would never get it out if the cheese was too soupy (whatever happened to the dry cottage cheese of my childhood?--I bought some cottage cheese a few weeks ago that hardly had any curds in it, it was all cream)

Mix:

1 16 oz container low fat cottage cheese, strained and pureed
1 tablespoon finely minced shallots
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon or any other chopped fresh herbs you'd like to play with
1 tsp white vinegar
salt & coarse ground black pepper to taste

Spread on thinly sliced grilled bread (I used sourdough, which really popped the cheese flavor).

That sounds good, and actually quite healthy.
I'm imagining it as a layer underneath my wild mushroom spread. Mmmm.

[Jenise]

That sounds good, and actually quite healthy.
I'm imagining it as a layer underneath my wild mushroom spread. Mmmm.

Yes! Good looking too. You could use a small cookie scoop to put a small amount on a side plate for guests, or serve it in small ramekins scraped flat on top and garnished with a little gremolata.

I remember that when visiting Lyon on the way to a trip to Burgundy, one of their regional specialties was a peculiar combination of olive oil and yogurt. Which somehow worked. This is another of those "who would have thunk it" sorts of combinations.

-Paul W.