Performance Notes
Cottage cheese is tasty right out of the refrigerator to just shy of room temperature. When it gets to room temperature or warmer it loses its charm. If you add any sort of sauce or dressing to cottage cheese that’s too acidic, it tends to break or separate. Don’t do that. Do, however, scoop it onto the top of already tossed salads.
Pairing Notes
Light and bright works best with cottage cheese, so we love young and unoaked whites like pinot gris, riesling and sauvignon blanc. Cider works well, and beer too. In that case, we lean toward lighter pilsners, wheat ales and American pale lagers.
Serve
When it comes to cottage cheese, we like to keep it simple with our Wisconsin cottage cheese. Put it out with thickly sliced homegrown tomatoes and drizzle it with olive oil, salt and pepper. If our sweet tooth has a say, then we like it with chunks of fresh pineapple, nectarine or peach. Basically, anything with a touch of acidity and a lot of fresh-picked-and-ripe flavor goes well with Wisconsin cottage cheese. We also love to swap it in as a light-on-its-feet substitute for ricotta in lasagna.