Cottage Cheese Salad

Tangy, herbaceous salad with Little Gem lettuce, toasted walnuts, and a cottage cheese vinaigrette.

Cook time: 25 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 0.5 cup walnuts
• 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic
• 0.5 cup full-fat cottage cheese
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 0 black pepper to taste
• 0 Kosher salt to taste
• 2 Persian cucumbers
• 0.5 cup walnuts
• 4 Little Gem lettuce heads
• 0.5 cup dressing
• 1 cup dill leaves
• 2 cucumbers
• 0.5 cup chopped walnuts
• 0 Kosher salt to taste
• 0 black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Spread the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven until deeply golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Check by cracking one open to ensure it's toasted all the way through. Let the walnuts cool.
3. Finely grate the zest of approximately 1/4 of a lemon into a large serving bowl. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice from both halves into the bowl.
4. Finely grate the garlic clove into the lemon juice.
5. Whisk in the full-fat cottage cheese, olive oil, and a generous amount of black pepper. Season the dressing with Kosher salt.
6. Cut the Persian cucumbers on a bias, rotating the cucumbers as you cut to create 1-inch oblique spears.
7. Chop the toasted walnuts.
8. Trim off the root ends of the Little Gem lettuce heads and discard any bruised or floppy outer leaves. Separate the leaves and tear large ones in half. Wash and dry them thoroughly.
9. Add the lettuce to the bowl with the dressing and toss to coat.
10. Tear the dill leaves into smaller pieces and add them to the bowl along with the cucumbers and chopped walnuts. Toss again until everything is well coated. Season with additional salt and black pepper to taste.