Last week I was meandering around the grocery store, looking for dinner inspiration for the next week, when I happened upon cottage cheese. I think cottage cheese is the most underrated cheese around. It has a terrible reputation as a diet food. I can remember my mother mixing it with mangoes and calling it dessert. I can distinctly remember passing on that dessert offering.
Cottage cheese can have its moments, though. I think casseroles are where it really shines. Somewhere it can get all melty and gooey with other kinds of cheese and become all kinds of amazing and delicious instead of just cold and lumpy (nothing is really good when it is cold and lumpy).
Pretty much the only dish I regularly consumed as a child that contained cottage cheese was what we called Mom’s Macaroni & Cheese. So distinguished because it wasn’t Kraft Dinner, obviously. Anyhow, Mom’s Macaroni & Cheese was rarely made with macaroni, but was usually whatever pasta we had lying around. And it had an amazing crispy, crunchy breadcrumb topping. Omnomnom.
So, that day I was in the grocery store, I decided it was high time I made a batch of Mom’s Macaroni and Cheese. So I stocked up on cottage cheese, sour cream, and all the other required ingredients. I haven’t changed the recipe much from Mom’s original. I leave out the ham or substitute smoked tofu, and I swap out half of the pasta for cauliflower. And I like to bake it in a wider, flatter dish so I can have more bread-crumby topping. Yum.
Mom’s Macaroni & Cheese
2 cups pasta shape of choice, preferably whole grain
2 cups chopped cauliflower florets2 cups cottage cheese
2 cups sour cream
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup diced smoked tofu or diced ham, optional
Salt & pepperBreadcrumbs, for topping (I used panko)
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta for two minutes less than the package recommends, adding the cauliflower to the pot when there is two minutes left on the timer. Drain and set aside.
Mix together all of the other ingredients, and mix into the pasta. Spread into a greased 9×13″ pan, sprinkle liberally with breadcrumbs, and bake for 30–40 minutes, until bubbling and the breadcrumb topping is browned.
Let cool for 20 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
