Cheese
2190 recipes found
The Commerce Inn Patty Melt
Patty melts have very few components: sliced bread, beef patties, caramelized onions and cheese. Vary them slightly and it’s possible the sandwich you end up with won’t be a patty melt anymore. Rita Sodi and Jody Williams, the chefs and owners of The Commerce Inn in New York City, put Dijon mayonnaise inside their patty melts, and it works. The mayo makes the sandwich juicier, the mustard helps cut through the fat, and the result is still, undeniably, a patty melt.
Ravioli
This easy method for making ravioli relies on a food processor to do much of the kneading, making it beginner-friendly and fairly hands-off for a homemade pasta. The dough is filled with a simple ricotta filling, but stuffing it with a more substantial meat or vegetable filling would be equally delicious. (Just keep in mind that whatever you use should be firm enough to hold up as the pasta cooks.) Toss ravioli in any number of classic Italian-type sauces, such as pesto, tomato or alfredo, or plan ahead and freeze the uncooked ravioli for fresh pasta at a moment’s notice (see Tip 1).
Parmesan Braised Beans With Olives
At the Manhattan restaurant Ci Siamo, the chef Hillary Sterling serves these dynamic beans topped with a tinsel of fried rosemary and sage, a shower of salty cheese, and a flourish of olive oil and black pepper. For a dish so luxe in flavor, it’s surprising how everyday its ingredients are. At the restaurant, Ms. Sterling uses at least four different types of beans (such as flageolet, scarlet runner, small white, tiger’s eye and Tarbais), but at home, any mix of white, brown and black that you prefer will be beyond delicious. With crusty bread and a glass of wine, these beans can be enjoyed as a meal on their own.
Sopa Paraguaya (Cheesy Cornbread)
Crisp at the edges and creamy in the center, this dense, cheesy cornbread from I Love Paraguay, a Paraguayan restaurant in Queens, New York City, has a texture similar to bread pudding. Paraguayans serve it for many meals in the country, but especially alongside asado (grilled meats). Though the bread is extremely popular, its true origins are murky. Many people will tell a similar story: In the mid-1800s, when Carlos Antonio López was the president of Paraguay, he liked to eat corn soup. But his chef made a mistake and added too much cornmeal, and instead served the president a corn bread. The president reportedly loved it so much that he named it sopa Paraguaya. But others say that the bread has deeper roots from the Cario-Guaraní, a group of Indigenous people in Paraguay, who made a similar type of cornbread.
Chicken Quesadillas
Ever the reliable 10-minute snack or meal, chicken quesadillas are not hard to make, but a few pointers ensure they’re as gooey, crispy and delicious as possible: Start with cool, shredded chicken so it doesn’t make the tortilla soggy. Toss the chicken and cheese together for even distribution, and add a smidgen of chili powder to the filling for spunk. Cook the quesadilla over moderate heat, so the cheese melts just as the tortilla’s toasted.
Chicken Spaghetti
This comforting casserole is a staple at picnics and potlucks across the American South, and it’s no wonder why. Creamy, cheesy noodles are tossed with tender bits of chicken, tomatoes and chiles, then topped with even more cheese and baked until bubbly. There have been many iterations of this dish over the years: Some recipes call for Velveeta and condensed cream of mushroom soup, while Craig Claiborne’s childhood recipe calls for a quarter pound of ground beef and pork in addition to a whole chicken. In this version, a flavorful combination of Cheddar and Parmesan are used, and milk and chicken stock thickened with a roux stand in for the canned soup. Feel free to use whatever kind of cooked chicken you like — leftover roast chicken, rotisserie chicken or a couple chicken breasts you baked just for the occasion. Chicken spaghetti is the perfect casserole to prepare ahead of time and freeze, making it ideal for large gatherings or for stocking a loved one’s freezer (see Tip).
Easy Burritos
Saucy and savory with just ground beef, beans and cheese, this easy recipe is inspired by Los Angeles-style burritos, which restaurant critic Jonathan Gold once summarized as “the rough equivalent of a hardhat’s lunch pail, a method of constructing a filling, portable meal from a tortilla, last night’s beans and a spoonful of stew if there was one.” This burrito’s filling eschews guacamole, sour cream, rice and raw vegetables which means it freezes well for up to 3 months. The seared ground beef is simply spiced, but feel free to swap in a stewed meat like birria or tinga de pollo or make it vegetarian with just beans and cheese.
Pimento Cheese Pie
Savory and spicy pimento cheese is folded and baked into the most buttery pie dough around. Inspired by a beloved pimento cheese hand pie, this slab pie is made for a crowd and will become a fast favorite for parties. In the spirit of celebration, this dish is wholly about collaboration and combining one perfect recipe with another. Here, the pimento cheese recipe from chef Ashley Christensen is combined with my tried, tested and true pie dough to create something magical. This rich dough uses fraisage, a French technique that involves smearing butter with flour using the palm of your hand, creating a tender, flaky crust. Do not use a machine or a pastry cutter, as your hands are essential to helping you discern the temperature and feel of the dough.
Cauliflower Cheese
Cauliflower cheese is classic British comfort food. In its simplest form, the vegetable is cloaked with white sauce (béchamel) and Cheddar, then baked until bubbly. It may be served as a side dish but is often the main course for a frugal lunch or supper.
Cheesy Frittata
Random leftovers or wilted vegetables in your fridge won’t go to waste when you use this easy frittata formula. First, whisk eggs with salt and allow them to sit while you prepare your mix-ins. This gives the salt time to uncoil some of those egg proteins so they cook up tender and creamy. Next, sauté or warm through any quick-cooking or cooked ingredients, like tender vegetables, cooked grains or shredded rotisserie chicken. Then stir in the beaten eggs and cook into large curds. Top everything with cheese and quickly broil to set the top and melt the cheese. Get creative with the ingredient combos: Try cooking the frittata in bacon fat, filling it with leftover French fries and topping with Cheddar. Stir the eggs into a mix of wilted herbs and spinach, and top with feta for a spanakopita feel. The possibilities are endless.
Cannoli
Although the filling for traditional Sicilian cannoli is made with sheep’s-milk ricotta, which is a little funkier and more complex than cow’s milk, it’s hard to find in the United States, so just look for the absolute best-quality whole-milk ricotta you can find (preferably one that’s locally made). The ingredients are fairly easy to find, but you will need some equipment for this recipe: a set of eight 5 1/2- to 6-inch cannoli molds, which you can easily purchase online.
Clams Oreganata (Baked Stuffed Clams)
In this take on the beloved Italian American classic, butter crackers are used in place of plain bread crumbs to add their unique fatty saltiness to the crunchy topping. Shallots, dried oregano and Parmesan join the stuffing party, and spooning in a modest amount ensures the flavor of the clams shines through. Sometimes, the clams are chopped up in this dish, but here they’re kept whole to preserve their briny juiciness and to make the preparation easier. Clams are gently steamed just until they open enough to shuck, separating the shells and prying out the meat. Save the cooking liquid to make a delicious buttery wine sauce to spoon over the baked clams before eating.
Ham and Cheese Sliders
Consider this cheesy, savory and slightly sweet snack the ultimate party food: Made with pull-apart Hawaiian rolls, these baked ham and cheese sliders, brushed with a buttery glaze, are much easier to assemble than individual sandwiches and are sure to please a crowd. Feel free to play around with the meat and cheese, substituting turkey or roast beef for the ham, and Cheddar, Provolone or your favorite melting cheese for the Swiss. These sliders can also be doubled for large groups; just use a sheet pan instead of a 9-by-13-inch pan for baking.
Spinach and Gruyère Breakfast Casserole
Filled with sautéed spinach and nutty Gruyère mixed into a nutmeg and lemon-scented custard, this breakfast casserole is a rich, meatless option for a special occasion breakfast or brunch. Like most of its kind, you can assemble the casserole the day before you want to bake it, then pop it in the oven an hour or so before serving. It will emerge puffed and golden on top, ready for its star-turn on any festive table.
Berry Jam Buns
A filling made from berry preserves and fresh berries replaces the buttery cinnamon sugar you might expect in a cinnamon roll, for a colorful twist on a favorite. You can use any berry jam you like, but a low-sugar variety will provide the most vibrant fruit flavor. The cream cheese icing is the perfect gooey, creamy topping that gently melts into the tops of the rolls. This dough is adaptable: You can let it rise overnight in the refrigerator, instead of at room temperature, so you can serve fresh, warm rolls for breakfast without getting up at the crack of dawn to make them. If you let the dough rise at room temperature, don’t skip the refrigeration time after the dough rises, as the dough is much, much easier to work with when cold. For the very best texture, these rolls are best served warm, on the day they are baked.
Lemon Yogurt Cheesecake
This tart and tangy cheesecake utilizes lots of lemon zest and juice for a punchy, bright flavor, plus Greek yogurt for a smooth, light texture that is irresistible. The filling is tucked into a straightforward graham cracker crust, but you could easily substitute an equal amount of gingersnaps for the grahams. Make sure to cool the cooked cheesecake in the oven, with the door slightly ajar, to help avoid cracks. (But if you do end up getting a few cracks, you can just cover them with whipped cream or fresh fruit and no one will be the wiser.) For impressively crisp-edged slices, run a knife under hot water and dry it in between cuts.
Cheese Sambousek
These crescent-shaped pocket pastries from Rachel Harary Gindi, a home cook living in Los Angeles are popular in one form or another throughout the Middle East and India. Cooks will find, of course, many variations from all over. This Syrian Jewish version from Aleppo creates the dough using flour and smeed, a fine semolina often also used in Middle Eastern cookies, which is not essential but adds a pleasing texture to the tongue. Some Syrian Jews add several kinds of cheese including feta to the cheese mix. Make this dish your own, as this recipe does with the use of nigella seeds. Topping the sambousek with sesame seeds or (nontraditional) nigella seeds adds a slight complexity to the taste of this mild, homey snack. Though you could certainly brush the tops of the sambousek with water and sprinkle with the seeds, for efficiency you can do as Poopa Dweck, author of “Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews” (Ecco, 2007), instructed: “Dip the dough ball or formed sambousek into sesame seeds before baking. The seeds will stick onto the dough.”
Lemony Pasta With Braised White Beans
Braising canned white beans with garlic, chile flakes and olive oil is a classic recipe — a speedy, meatless, very satisfying weeknight meal. This version turns the mix into a sauce for pasta, brightened by lemon juice and zest, and rounded out with fresh parsley or arugula and cherry tomatoes, a juicy contrast to the velvety beans. The pasta water also plays an important role here, keeping the beans from becoming pasty. Use the best olive oil you can, especially for drizzling at the end. That’s where you’ll really taste it, and a robust, herbal oil will add a lot of character to this simple dish.
Thanksgiving Leftovers Hot Pockets
Wrapping up Thanksgiving leftovers in store-bought pizza dough and baking it all together creates a hand-held pielike treat that’s somewhere between a calzone and one of those Costco chicken bakes. This recipe calls for stuffing, roasted sweet potatoes, turkey and cranberry sauce, but it would work equally well with leftover green bean casserole, mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts (chopped or sliced into small pieces) or squash. If it tastes good together on your Thanksgiving plate, it’ll taste good baked into a pocket. You can use homemade, store-bought or canned pizza dough here, but homemade or store-bought will give you the best texture and flavor.
Basque Cheesecake Bars
This recipe transforms Basque cheesecake into portable, handheld treats. Unlike typical cheesecake bars that bake at a low temperature, these are baked at 500 degrees to achieve a burnished top while maintaining a creamy interior. This layer makes for a striking presentation and imparts the flavor of burnt caramel, which offsets the sweetness of the filling. A sturdy graham cracker crust imitates classic cheesecake bars and adds a pop of texture to this creamy dessert. While Basque cheesecake is often served at room temperature, you can refrigerate the bars if you prefer a firmer texture.
Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread
If pulling apart slices of warm, cheesy, garlicky bread is your idea of a good time, do this: Slice crusty bread into a grid pattern, coat every nook and cranny with garlic butter, tuck in some shredded mozzarella and bake the whole thing. What was just a loaf of bread is now a worthy party centerpiece. You can prepare, wrap and refrigerate the loaf up to one day ahead. The format is adaptable, too: Season the butter with scallions, rosemary or other flavorings, or swap the mozzarella for Cheddar, pepper Jack or another melty cheese you’d use for a grilled cheese.
Cheesy Spinach Bake
This baked spinach gratin is similar to creamed spinach but has even more going on. It’s rich but uses half-and-half, so it’s not too heavy, and it’s crunchy with crisp toasted bread crumbs. It tastes verdant from so much spinach, sweet with onion and garlic, and sharp and gooey from two aged cheeses. It’s great alongside turkey, steak or white beans. To prepare this dish in advance, refrigerate the spinach mixture and the bread crumb topping separately for up to 24 hours before assembling and baking. If cooking chilled ingredients straight from the fridge, you may need to increase the cook time by 5 to 10 minutes.
Hash Brown Casserole
This cozy dish of tender potatoes, cheesy with sharp Cheddar and rich with sour cream, easily feeds a crowd for brunch or a holiday potluck. Store-bought frozen hash browns do most of the work here, but you also can use frozen cubed potatoes. Traditionally, this casserole, also known as “funeral potatoes”, is made with canned cream of chicken soup, but this version calls for making the soup from scratch. While that may sound fussy, the homemade soup comes together in less than 10 minutes — and of course you can use a 10-ounce can of soup instead. For extra crunch, be sure to try the optional cornflakes topping.
Cranberry Cheesecake Tart
This easy cheesecake tart comes together in the food processor and bakes without a water bath. The key to the smooth texture of the filling is a very low oven, which means it bakes for a long time, so if you’re serving it on Thanksgiving, definitely bake it the day before to free up oven space. The shiny cranberry topping is made from unsweetened cranberry juice and whole cranberries that are just barely poached, so they preserve their bright, fresh flavor and satisfying pop. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)