Sometimes I get in a rut when making salads, and basically make the same lettuce salad almost daily. It was time to look for some “new” salads, so I started browsing through my hundred-year-old cookbooks and came across a recipe for Cheese and Tomato Salad, or to be more specific, Cottage Cheese and Tomato Salad.
Medium tomatoes are stuffed with a cottage cheese, paprika, and chopped almond mixture; and, served with a vinaigrette dressing. The salad was lovely, with the sweet, slightly acidic taste of the tomatoes balancing nicely with the mild, salty, tanginess of the cottage cheese. The chopped almonds added a nice, crunchy texture.
Here is the original recipe:
I decided to stuff three tomatoes, so, in the updated ingredients list, I included amounts needed to stuff that many tomatoes. A hundred-years-ago tomatoes were often peeled, but today they are seldom peeled, so I did not peel them when I made the recipe. Since cottage cheese (as well as the French Dressing) already contains salt, I did not add additional salt to the stuffing mixture.
The old recipe called for serving the salad with French Dressing. A hundred years ago, French Dressing was a vinaigrette dressing, and quite different from the commercial, orange-colored French dressing that is common today. There was no recipe for French Dressing in the cookbook that contained the salad recipe, so I found a French Dressing recipe in another cookbook:
This recipe makes more French dressing than needed for three stuffed tomatoes, so I halved the recipe.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Cottage Cheese and Tomato Salad
3 medium tomatoes (Select tomatoes that are nicely shaped and that will be level when placed on a plate.)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/8 teaspoon paprika (plus additional paprika to garnish, if desired)
2 tablespoons almonds, chopped (plus additional chopped almonds to garnish, if desired)
lettuce leaves, if desired
Step 1. Cut the top of the tomatoes and then scoop out the pulp in the center. (Be sure to leave the shell of the tomato.) Turn tomato upside down on a plate to drain out any remaining liquid.
Step 2. Make the filling for the tomatoes by putting the cottage cheese, paprika, and almonds in a small bowl; stir until mixed.
Step 3. Stuff the tomatoes with the filling. If desired, sprinkle additional paprika and chopped almonds on top. The stuffed tomatoes may be served on lettuce leaves and with French Dressing (recipe below).
French Dressing (Vinaigrette Dressing)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
Step 1. Put the salt and paprika in a small bowl.
Step 2. Gradually add the olive oil while stirring constantly.
Step 3. Then slowly add the vinegar, a small amount at a time, while continuing to stir.
The stuffed tomatoes would make a nice lunch. Cottage cheese seems to be making a comeback.
Yes, it would make a nice lunch. Cottage cheese seemed like it was going out of fashion towards the end of the 20th century and the beginning of this century; but, like you, I also have the impression that it is making a comeback and is now quite popular.
You found the recipe in a 1926 Iowa cookbook, but I can guarantee that the same recipe was being used in Iowa in the late 1940s and early 1950s: at least, in our home. Mom used walnuts rather than almonds, and sometimes she’d add a few raisins. I remember it as being rather tasty.
I found the cookbook on eBay. It’s a nice little cookbook. I think that the town of Cherokee is in northwestern Iowa.
Sometimes I’m surprised how similar some of the foods a hundred years ago are to foods that were very popular during the mid-20th century. Then I remind myself that 1925 is only 15 years before 1940 and 25 years before 1950 – so it makes sense that some foods were popular both in the 1920’s and in the 1940’s and 50’s.
As a cottage cheese lover this recipe looks scrumptious to me!
It’s tasty.
The recipe looks good, both the tomato and dressing.
It’s yummy.
Your photo is lovely. I will try to remember this when the farm stand is open. The tomatoes I see are not top notch.
This would be a wonderful summer recipe. I was fortunate to be able to find some very nice tomatoes at the store.
I bet this will be a treat when the summer tomatoes come it. I enjoy cottage cheese with green onions and bacon bits sprinkled on it…. will have to try it with nuts I think.
The nuts worked well when mixed with the cottage cheese in this recipe. They added a nice crunch.
I remember my mother serving this salad!
It’s wonderful to hear that this recipe brought back some nice food memories.
My mom used to stuff just about everything in a tomato: cottage cheese, yes, but also chicken or tuna salad.
Back in the day, it was really popular to stuff tomatoes (and green peppers).
Oh, she did that too!
Chicken salad….ham salad….tuna salad…. when the tomatoes got ripe….
They were perfect little vesssels!
This Old‑Fashioned Cottage Cheese and Tomato Salad made me think — do you enjoy it most for its simple refreshing taste and nostalgia, or do you love how the creamy cottage cheese pairs with juicy tomatoes as a healthy, quick dish that doesn’t need cooking?
Both – I generally select old recipes to make that are representative of the times and that I think I might enjoy; but, at the same time, I also consider whether it is easy to make and healthy.
This is completely off subject, do you have any recipes using apple butter in foods? That is, not using it as a spread? I didn’t see a search on your site. I had planned to do a search to check if you had already posted recipes using apple butter.
I think that the only time I’ve discussed apple butter on this blog was back when I was posting my grandmother’s diary entries. She wrote that her family had made apple butter, and I wondered if they sometimes mixed it with cottage cheese when they ate it. In central Pennsylvania, where she lived, there is a strong Pennsylvania Dutch influence and people sometimes eat smearcase (cottage cheese) and apple butter. Here’s the link to that post:
Smearcase (Cottage Cheese) and Apple Butter
Thank you.