Like many of you reading this, I bought a tub of cottage cheese about two months ago for Passover. I did not, however, open the tub of curds during the holiday, or in the following weeks. (I was basically vegan for the holiday, save the butter for the mandatory matzo crack.) But about six weeks after Passover ended, I decided it was time to do something with the cottage cheese, lest it rot and end up in the trash.
With a little tinkering, I made some very tasty sweet cheese pancakes, with a hint of vanilla. We ate all of them for dinner, and, as we were cleaning up, Rich said, “Those were really good. Were you recipe testing for Shavuot next week?” Nope, I responded, just trying to do something with the cottage cheese from April. “Do you think you could do a savory version of them?” he asked.
I was surprised, given Rich’s sweet tooth, to hear him ask for savory. But I accepted the challenge and came up with this recipe for savory cheese pancakes a few days later, in time for Shavuot. (We’re calling them pancakes, although we think we can say latke as well.) They were such a smash that we had them a few nights later for Shabbat dinner.
The key for me was bright, fresh green herbs that are such a welcome taste after this dreadful winter. I used piles of fresh basil, parsley and scallions. If you wanted to do some tinkering on your own with other herbs, I would encourage you to keep a light tone – tarragon, although I love it, sounds off to me here.
Although I served these for a holiday and Shabbat, they are actually a terrific choice for a quick weeknight meal. The batter pulls together in seconds. The thing that takes the longest is cleaning the herbs. My trick is soaking them in large bowls of cold water and letting the dirt and grit fall to the bottom of the bowl. You can even clean your herbs a few days before you use them; I keep them wrapped in a paper towel in the fridge for an easy reach when I’m cooking.
I don’t have a preferred brand of cottage cheese –I used Stop & Shop brand the first time, only because it was kosher for Passover. The second time I used Star Market’s store brand. Aleza swears by Friendship brand dairy products. I actually had salted butter in the house (from the matzo crack) which added a nice layer of flavor to the patty. If you use unsalted, be sure to adjust the seasonings.
I’m also including the sweet version of this patty just because it was a nice treat. I’m also making sure to include a photo of Lilli in this blog post because I received some complaints, offline, that she was missed in the past few posts. For all the Lilli junkies out there, feel free to follow Cheapbeets on Instagram.
Next Passover, swap out the flour for potato starch and you’re good to go.
Savory Cheese Pancakes
Ingredients
One tub cottage cheese
Three heaping tablespoons chopped basil and parsley
Three chopped scallions
½ cup flour
1 egg
Pinch salt
A few grinds of fresh black pepper
Directions
In a medium sized bowl, crack egg and whisk it. (Or do it with a fork. It doesn’t really matter.) Add the rest of the ingredients. Using both your freshly washed hands, mix everything together.
Heat a tablespoon butter (salted if you have it) in a non-stick skillet. Using your hands, grab about a golf sized ball of batter, flatten it a bit in the palms of your hands, and add it to the hot melted butter in the skillet. Fry the patty for about three minutes on each side – do not move it around or flip it for at least three minutes – give the patty the time to make a brown crust. About three minutes in, flip the pancake and fry the other side of the patty.
You should get six patties with the tub of cottage cheese. They are great warm, fresh from the pan, but also make a quick cold breakfast the next day.
For the sweet version, eliminate the herbs and salt, and add one teaspoon vanilla and no more than a tablespoon of sugar. Honey would probably be nice as well.
Cheap Beets 
Aww Your baby is so cute!!
These sounds great–must try them!