Snacks

Serves 6 for grazing

• 500g Brancourts Cottage Cheese
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 eschalot, sliced
• 2 clove garlics, sliced
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 1 cup pitted kalamata olives
• 1 cup pitted green Sicilian olives
• 2 lemons
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp Calabrian chilli in oil or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
• Handful dill & mint leaves
• Extra lemon zest to serve, optional
• Bread, crackers & crudites to serve

Place the cottage cheese into a food processor or blender and blend to a smooth whipped consistency. Set aside.

Place a small saucepan over a medium high heat and add the olive oil, eschalot, garlic, thyme, and fennel seed and cook for 2-3 minutes to soften. Stir through the olives, grated zest of 1 lemon and honey.

Cook for 1 minute then remove for the heat and allow to marinate and cool to room temp or rewarm to serve.

Spoon the whipped cottage cheese over a board or platter and spread out, making dips and crevasses for the olives and marinade to pool in. grate over the remaining lemon.

Spoon over the olives and their marinade, scatter with the pine nuts, chilli, herbs and serve with your favourite things to dip in.

Make one slice for yourself and, warning, be prepared to make one for a salivating friend too.

• Sourdough
• Brancourts Cottage Cheese (Classic, Lactose Free or Protein+)
• Avocado
• Extra Virgin olive oils
• Pink salt flakes
• Chilli flakes (or ground black pepper if chilli flakes aren’t your thing)

Cut your avocado in half then cut into thin slices.
Lightly toast a slice of sourdough then generously spread it with Brancourts cottage cheese.
Gently lay your avocado slices on top of the cheese then add a quick drizzle of olive oil.
Finish by sprinkling on the salt flakes and chilli to taste.
Take a bite and try not to smile (we bet you can’t)!

Makes 12 x ¼ cup muffin size

• 250g Brancourts cottage cheese (Classic, Lactose Free or Protein+)
• 350ml buttermilk
• 2 free – range eggs, lightly beaten
• 300g self – raising flour
• 1 teaspoon flaked salt
• Cracked black pepper
• 160g pumpkin, peeled and coarsely grated
• 40g Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan forced). Lightly spray the holes of a 12 x ¼ cup muffin pan with cooking oil.

In a bowl combine the cottage cheese, buttermilk and egg and whisking together with a fork. Add flour, salt and pepper and stir with a metal spoon to just combine the ingredients. Lastly fold through the pumpkin and Parmesan.

To make muffins use a slightly heaped ¼ cup of mixture to fill each hole.

Bake for 25 minutes until golden and when the tops of the cooked muffins spring back when gently touched. Stand in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack.

Ideally serve warm with a little extra cottage cheese or butter to spread.

Note – any pumpkin variety will work well.

Makes 15

• 250g Brancourts cottage cheese (Classic, Lactose Free)
• 200g dried apricots, roughly chopped
• 100ml coconut water
• 2 tablespoons white chia seeds
• ½ cup LSA mix
• ½ cup desiccated coconut
• 1/3 cup desiccated coconut (extra) for rolling

In a bowl combine the cottage cheese, apricots, coconut water and chia. Stir and allow to stand for 15 minutes.

Transfer apricots to the bowl of a food processor with chopping blade. Add LSA and coconut. Use the pulse button to combine and mix ingredients with the aim to have a textured mix, not smooth in consistency.

Using a tablespoon take a heaped spoonful of the mix and roll into a ball.

Place the extra coconut onto a plate and roll the balls in the coconut.

Chill for a minimum 1hour ideally 1.5 hours to allow balls to become firmer.

Note – These Bliss Balls require refrigeration (due to the cheese) and will keep in a covered container for up to 5 days.

Serves 8-10

• 250g frozen spinach, thawed
• 500g Brancourts cottage cheese (Classic, Lactose Free or Protein+)
• ¼ cup pitted Kalamata olives, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons drained baby capers
• 1 tablespoon snipped chives
• ½ teaspoon flaked salt
• Cracked black pepper
• Spray olive oil

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with kitchen baking paper. Cut about 3cm thick top off the cob, reserve for the lid. Scoop the bread from inside the cob to leave a hole to place the dip. Aim for a boarder about 2cm thick. Tear the bread that has been removed into medium sized chunks. Lightly spray with olive oil.

Place hollowed bread cob onto the prepared tray.

Place the spinach into a strainer and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.

Combine in a bowl the spinach, cottage cheese, olives, capers, chives and salt. Season well with pepper and stir well to mix ingredients.

Spoon the cheese, spinach mixture into the hollowed cob. Top mixture with bread lid and cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and then place the chunks of bread onto the tray bake a further 15 minutes to lightly toasted the bread chunks.

Serve immediently with extra biscuits and raw vegetables sticks.

Serves 4-6

• 250g Brancourts cottage cheese (Classic, Lactose free, Protein +)
• 185g can tuna in spring water, drained
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped green shallots
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped semi dried tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped dill
• 1 lemon, rind finely grated and juiced
• ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon flaked salt
• Cracked black pepper

In a bowl combine the cottage cheese, tuna, shallots, tomato, dill, lemon rind and 1 teaspoon lemon juice, chilli flakes and salt. Season with pepper and stir well to mix ingredients together.

Serve with biscuits and raw vegetable sticks.

Note – This dip is also ideal as a sandwich filling. Just add some crisp lettuce leaves such as iceberg or cos.

Makes 24

• 250g Brancourts Cottage Cheese (Classic, Lactose free)
• 90g Smoked Salmon finely diced
• Small amount of Smoked Salmon slivers extra to Garnish
• 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 2 tablespoons very finely Chopped Chives
• Extra Finely Chopped Chives to Garnish
• Ground black pepper to taste
• 24 Short crust mini pastry

Combine your Cottage Cheese, smoked salmon, lemon juice and chopped chives in a bowl. Season with black pepper to taste

Fill prepared pastry cases with this delicious mixture.

Garnish with smoked salmon slivers & chives.

Best served on the day they’re prepared.

Serves 4

• 250g frozen spinach, thawed
• 250g Brancourts cottage cheese (Classic, Lactose free, Protein +)
• 300g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon flaked salt
• 125ml cold water (approximately)
• Olive oil to cook

To serve:

• Hummus (¼ cup per flatbread)
• 8 pieces charred eggplant or red capsicum
• 12 fresh mint leaves
• Dukkha
• Extra virgin olive oil

In a bowl, combine the cottage cheese, flour, oil, salt and 2 tablespoons of water then begin to mix to form a dough. Mixing with your hands, gradually add more water – as required – in order to bring the ingredients together to form a soft dough.

Lightly-flour your clean kitchen benchtop and turn the dough out onto this work surface and knead the dough for about 2 minutes until it’s nice and smooth. Then place it into a clean bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and rest for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into 4 even portions. Heat a large frying pan over high heat. On your bench top, roll out the dough pieces one at a time to a thickness of about 4mm. Brush one side lightly with olive oil then place it into your hot frying pan and cook for 2 minutes (until lightly golden). Brush the top-side of the dough with oil before turning it over to cook the other side for a further 2 minutes. Remove to side plate and cover with aluminium foil to keep it warm while cooking the remaining dough (into flatbread) by the same method.

To serve, place a flatbread onto each individual plate and spread with hummus. Then top with the eggplant, torn mint leaves and a sprinkling of dukkah before drizzling with some olive oil before serving.