Noodles and Pot Cheese
As a little girl, my great (maternal) grandmother Elsie 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. However, yesterday I found the pot-style cottage cheese at a farmers market just like the kind Elsie used when I was a child. So, of course I bought it and made noodles and pot cheese for dinner.
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.
I loved seeing your recipe on line. My grandmother and mother made this when I was a child. Only difference was they made the noodles first, put them aside. They fried about 3/4 to a pound of bacon per pound of noodles, drained the bacon, reserving about 4 tablespoons. The drippings were drizzled on the noodles, cheese added, then stirred and salt and pepper were added. We love it still in my family today !!
Wow - I bet it was amazing with bacon drizzlings... MMmmmm
Reading about noodles and pot cheese bought me back 70 years ago. My Mother always made noodles and pot cheese and we loved it, she served it as a starch along with meat and vegetables. When I got married I started making it but I couldn't get pot cheese I had to buy cottage cheese pot style. I used to put a lot of pepper in it because that's the way my Mother did it. Ah@ the Good Old Days. Yum Yum.
Hi Tillie,
Thank you for sharing your experiences with me! I am so glad that my blog brought back such happy memories for you.
Deb
i haved looked all over, even in Zabars(nyc) and can't find pot cheese. we had it on a friday since we couldn't eat meat. i loved it. we sprinkled sugar and cinamon over the dish. it was so yummy. recently, my son in law was talking about it. his g'ma made it. i live near albany ny. where did you find the pot cheese/ thanks, kathy
Hi Kathy,
I appreciate your frustration! I buy pot cheese in two places -- The first is a local chain (4 stores) called Adams Fairacre farms -- they have one in Kingston, Newbergh, Poughkipsee, and a 4th location I can't remember. The other place I buy pot cheese -- although they call it either pot-style, or large-curd cottage cheese -- is Fairway. I don't know if you have any Fairways in Albany -- but there are a lot of them in NYC -- I go to the on in Paramus NJ.
Good luck on your search!
Deb