Cottage Cheese Ring for Fruit Salad

The Fan Fare cookbook has many recipes for entertaining…we liked this one.  It reminded me of something our Mom would have made, and I liked the idea of a way to serve cottage cheese on a buffet table or as a salad plate.  I made this in individual molds that held a ½ cup each – it made 8 servings.  It would be even prettier in a ring mold filled with the fruit.  Obviously, this is a recipe that’s easy to halve.

Myrna suggested setting the cold, softened gelatin into a larger dish of hot water from the microwave instead of using a double boiler to dissolve it.  It worked very well.

Don’t be worried about unmolding salads like this – I’ve done literally hundreds in institutional kitchens – you place the individual mold on the palm of your hand, mold up, and run it under a stream of hot water from the faucet just a few seconds.  Pull it out of the water, shake a little, and the salad will drop right into your hand. If it doesn’t fall out the first time, simply try again.  Then place it on the plate.   Oil or spray your mold with cooking spray before use.  Garnish the plate with leaf lettuce if desired.

Cottage Cheese Ring for Fruit Salad

  2          Envelopes  Unflavored Gelatin

     ½      Cup  Cold Water

  4          Cups  Cottage Cheese – drained  (I used small curd and didn’t sieve)

Add gelatin to cold water and let stand 5 minutes, and then dissolve by placing over hot water.  Cool, stir into the cottage cheese which has been drained and put through a sieve, or use "old-fashioned" or small curd cottage cheese.

Pack into an oiled 1 quart ring mold and chill until firm.  Unmold and serve with fruit salad heaped in the center or on top.

Preparation time 15 minutes.

1 Quart or 8 servings