For some reason, presidents and their food preferences are one of those things that always stick in my memory (crowding out trivial stuff like, you know, PIN numbers and the location of mislaid keys): Ronald Reagan loved his jelly beans; George Bush Senior enjoyed pork rinds (and hated broccoli); Bill Clinton enjoyed food, period; Dubya loved pretzels (though they didn’t love him back); Barack Obama will forever be identified with Spam musubi.

But before any of them, there was Nixon.

It’s hard to imagine scowling, hair-shirted Tricky Dick ever eating, but he must have. Indeed, he once claimed to actually enjoy something (if he was telling the truth, that is): Cottage cheese. With black pepper. And ketchup.

Yep, you read that right.

Cottage cheese with black pepper and ketchup. It’s an absurd non sequitur that brings to mind an episode of Zippy the Pinhead, where a flight attendant asked him if he’d like anything and Zippy replied, “Can you bring me some peanut butter and ketchup on sliced beets?”

I mean, what sane person would try, even once, something so outlandishly wrong-headed as cottage cheese with black pepper and ketchup.?

I think you can probably guess the answer to that one.

For the record, though, it wasn’t as narsty as I thought it would be. It was way worse. Don’t try this at home, kids. That’s my job. It’s okay, really, you don’t have to thank me.

(To anyone who is planning to write and tell me how delicious it is and how I don’t know what I’m talking about, let me offer an apology in advance: I’m really sorry that you have no tastebuds.)

(Ha, Ha! I was just kidding! You don’t deserve tastebuds.)

Cottage cheese deserves more respect than that. It’s been around for thousands of years and is the stuff that Miss Muffet was eating (yep, curds & whey) when she went tail-over-teacups after a spider tried to bum-rush her tuffet.

I use small curd cottage cheese for this recipe; I have nothing against large curd except that I think small curd stays creamier when heated. At all costs avoid low- and non-fat varieties. Life’s too short to eat watery cottage cheese! (Unless you’re planning to put ketchup on it. In that case, watery might be a feature!)

Here’s a photo of the Creamy Cottage Cheese and Muenster Omelette below.

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
1 Tbsp milk
1/8 teaspoon of salt
Pinch of white pepper
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup grated Muenster (Gruyere or Swiss work well, too)
1/4 to 1/3 cup small curd cottage cheese

PREPARATION:

Beat the eggs with the milk, salt, and white pepper. Melt the butter over medium heat. Pour the eggs into the pan and allow a minute or so for the bottom to set, then gently push the edges toward the center, tilting slightly to let the uncooked egg reach the pan.

When the omelette is nearly cooked, but still wet on top, sprinkle on the grated cheese and then spread the cottage cheese over one half of the omelette. Fold in half, allow to heat through for a minute or so, and serve.

Enjoy!

You Can Read More of Doug’s Recipe Corner Here.

Please join us tomorrow to read our newest Fish For Friday Recipe of the Week for Dungeness Crab Guacamole with Belgian Endive, as Lent continues.

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