I am not a big cottage cheese lover; however, I have gotten myself to like the Good Culture brand. I also think the Friendship brand is good when you can't find the GC brand, since it's often sold out!
I am picky about cottage cheese, only liking savory varieties. I can't stomach cottage cheese with things like fruit. I think it's a texture thing! So I've been trying to find interesting ways to eat cottage cheese in a savory way because it is such an easy way to add a good dose of protein to a meal!
One of the ways I have been loving lately is roasted tomatoes and cottage cheese. It makes for the easiest lunch or side dish and is packed with summertime flavor.
This isn't really even worth a recipe, as it is incredibly quick and easy, but whenever I share it, many of you ask for one. I am not one to measure anything, so I'll give you the ingredients, and you can eyeball it all, based on your flavor preferences.
You'll need:
- Grape tomatoes
- Garlic cloves
- White Onion
- Olive Oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Hot honey
- Black Pepper
- Salt
- Italian Seasoning
- Fresh Basil
- Red Pepper Flakes
First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
When it comes to seasonings, I am very generous. Obviously, omit the red pepper flakes if you are sensitive to spice. I love garlic, so I add many cloves, but if you don't, personalize it to your preferences. The garlic almost caramelizes in the oven, and the big chunks are so delicious!
For the marinade, I just add everything to a bowl with the tomato, garlic, and onion mixture, but you could mix it all in a small bowl first and then pour it over the tomato mixture to taste-test to your preference.
I coat the tomatoes with olive oil, but make sure your olive oil is suitable for high heat. I add a big splash of balsamic vinegar (this is my absolute favorite). I add a dash of hot honey to cut the acidity of tomatoes. If you are sensitive to heat, use regular honey. Truly, just use a tiny bit, because tomatoes are already naturally sweet.
Mix everything together until everything is evenly coated.
Lay it out on a baking sheet as shown above. I like to use parchment paper because there is a lot of leftover juice in the pan, and you want to make sure you capture it all. It's easy to just lift the parchment off the pan and drain everything into a storage bowl.
Once the oven is preheated to 400, bake for 20 minutes.
This is the parchment paper I prefer. It's supposed to be unbleached, chlorine-free, and PFAS-free. I'm not someone who lives a fully non-toxic life, but if I learn something and have the power to improve what we use in our house *easily*, I will do it. I learned that some parchment paper contains PFAS, so I bought this brand instead. Unfortunately, it is pricier than some brands.
After about 20 minutes, it should look like this. I take it out, mix it up, and put it back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes. So your total cook time should be around 30-40ish minutes, depending on your preference. The biggest thing is to make sure the garlic has time to fully cook. You can tell if it's easy to smash with a fork!
After another 10-15 minutes, your tomato mixture should look like this. See the juice pooled in the bottom? That's what you want to make sure you collect. There is so much flavor in that. I often will use that liquid as salad dressing. It's so good over arugula with the tomato mixture and lots of freshly grated parm!
I add it to a storage bowl, and you can keep it in your refrigerator for several days. You don't have to heat the mixture up again; it's delicious chilled, too. Technically, you could use an immersion blender and basically make marinara sauce, ha!
I mainly love it over cottage cheese, and I top it with fresh basil. It's the perfect addition to summer salads with some roasted corn, artichokes, and grated Parmesan. I also love it on toast! If you don't like cottage cheese, you could do ricotta on toast with the tomato mixture! You can also make a 'baked' caprese salad and use the mixture with fresh mozzarella and basil.
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