As a little girl, my great grandmother fed me noodles and pot cheese.  A quick and easy meal that eastern Europeans made for their children, the fresh pot-style cottage cheese from the local farms served as gravy for the hot salted and buttered egg noodles.  This plain but tasty meal became one of Grandma Elsie’s staples when she needed to feed me.

Some of my fondest memories of Elsie surrounded food.  She would tell the stories of Greek Mythology while feeding me.  I learned of how Hades stole Persephone from her mother Demeter through the residue that the hot chocolate left behind in the mug.  Each time I took a sip of the chocolate, she told me more of the story.

I have often made egg noodles with cottage cheese when I needed comfort food, until I developed a dairy allergy. Each bite would bring me back to being six years old in my grandmother's kitchen.  

For those who can eat dairy, and want a simple, plain and soul-filling meal.  This is it. 


It is a very simple dish to make.

1. Boil egg noodles in salted water
2. While the noodles are boiling, cut up bits of butter and put them in the bottom of a large bowl ( to taste)
3. Then add the cottage cheese to the bowl (1/2 pint for 2 cups of cooked noodles)
4. Drain the pasta and heap it over the cheese and butter.
5. Stir to incorporate.  The heat from the pasta will melt the cheese and butter.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup hot soprasatta, small dice (it's important to keep the pieces small and even)
• ¼ cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
• One 2oz jar of marinated artichoke hearts
• 1 medium onion, small dice
• 4 cloves  garlic, minced
• ½ cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• *1 lb package of fresh cavatelli (the dish works much better with fresh pasta)
• Salt/pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme leaves (be sure to pick them from the stems)
• ½ teaspoon chopped oregano
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup white wine

*If you can't find cavatelli, then fusilli works equally well

 

Directions:

• Fill a large stock pot with water, salt aggressively (as Mario Batalli says … "Like the sea") and bring to a boil; when boiling, add pasta and cook at rapid boil for about 7 minutes (until al dente/ soft)
• Heat a large sauce pan (with straight sides) until it begins to get hot, then add olive oil
• When the olive oil begins to shimmer and ribbon in the pan (not smoke), add onions, sausage, salt and ground pepper and begin to sauté
• When the onions begin to turn clear and the sausage begins to render fat, add the garlic and mushrooms, cook for about two minutes – stir regularly
• Add thyme, oregano and white wine and reduce to a thick liquid
• When the liquid becomes viscous, add the olives, artichoke hearts (and their liquid), cherry tomatoes, cook for another two minutes – stir regularly
• Add drained pasta to the dish and toss, turn off heat, allow to stand in the pan for a few moments before serving.

*If you find that there is not enough liquid in the bottom of the pan, you can add a little of the pasta water to adjust the consistency.