Cheese
2190 recipes found
Tomato, Fresh Fig and Blue Cheese Salad
Whether you get them from your backyard garden or the local farmers' market, tomatoes are one of summer’s sweetest staples. In the kitchen, one of the best things a cook can do with a surfeit of ripe summer tomatoes is not to cook them. With such tasty beauties available (and given the tomato-pleasing heat), salads make more sense. Start simply by slicing big tomatoes into rounds and cutting smaller ones into wedges and the cherry and grape varieties in half. Very gently toss them with fresh herbs, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and good salt. Use whatever you’ve got to hand to dress up the pile. Here, we’ve used some crumbled blue cheese for tang, fresh figs for sweetness and a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts for crunch.
Cheesy Baked Orzo With Marinara
A vegetarian weeknight pasta that’s as comforting as it is easy, this dish will win over adults and kids alike (red-pepper flakes optional!). While fresh mozzarella can become tough and chewy when baked, shredded low-moisture mozzarella melts beautifully. Serve this with a simple, lemony arugula salad or a Caesar salad for ultimate weeknight comfort.
Tuna Melt
Legend has it that the tuna melt was accidentally invented in the 1960s at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Charleston, S.C., when the cook didn’t notice that a bowl of tuna salad had tipped over onto a grilled cheese. We may never know if this story is true, but there’s no doubt that the tuna melt has become a classic American diner food. This recipe adds chopped cornichons and whole-grain mustard for a satisfying crunch and vinegary element. Extra-sharp Cheddar is a must, and as with grilled cheese, the key to achieving perfectly melted cheese and golden bread is to toast the sandwich over medium-low heat. If you prefer an open-face tuna melt, skip the top piece of bread and place the sandwich on a sheet pan under the broiler until the cheese melts.
Pasta Alla Brontese (Creamy Fettuccine With Pancetta and Pistachios)
This easy weeknight pasta honors the town of Bronte, Sicily, renowned for its green pistachios harvested from the volcanic soil of Mount Etna. They’re famous for their flavor and bright green color. The simple pan sauce has only a few ingredients: ground pistachios, grated cheese, heavy cream, a splash of wine and pancetta. Perfect for a weeknight but interesting enough for a dinner party, this dish is as rich and comforting as fettuccine alfredo, with additional texture and depth of flavor from the crispy pancetta bits and nutty pistachio crumble.
Ricotta and Pine Nut Salad
Here is a laid-back, unfussy salad that takes no time to prepare and is a great accompaniment to a summer pasta. It’s also good on its own for lunch.
Spicy Watermelon Salad With Pineapple and Lime
Refreshing, sweet and spicy, this salad is the edible equivalent of a crisp beer on a hot summer’s day. It pushes the watermelon-feta-mint combination to new heights with a Mexican-inspired flavor profile of lime, jalapeño and cilantro. It’s also easy to prepare, requiring little more than a knife, a bowl and a whisk. Enjoy it as soon as it’s assembled, as the salty dressing draws the juice out of the fruit fairly quickly and the salad can lose its fresh crunch. A sprinkle of Tajín, a chile-lime Mexican spice blend, is optional, but adds a touch of smoke.
Pasta With Cauliflower, Bacon and Sage
A comforting dinner for a cold night, this hearty pasta has all the makings of a crowd-pleaser like fried sage leaves, crispy bacon and nutty roasted cauliflower. This recipe demonstrates the magic of starchy pasta water: Swirled with lemon juice and Parmesan, it creates a luxurious sauce without the addition of cream or butter. Add more pasta water than you think you need, so the pasta stays moist as it absorbs the sauce.
Salad Pizza With White Beans and Parmesan
Inspired by California Pizza Kitchen’s tricolore salad pizza, this pizza features a mountain of brightly dressed greens and beans atop a crisp Parmesan crust. Rolling the dough very thin takes some patience, but the reward is a snappy crust similar to that of pizza tonda, a thin-crust pie that’s popular in Rome. The salad is made of arugula, white beans and pickled pepperoncini, dressed simply with olive oil and the brine from the peppers, but any salad topping would do. (The C.P.K. original had radicchio, greens, tomatoes and a vinaigrette.) With an abundance of leaves atop, fold the pieces in half to eat, or embrace the mess — it’s all part of the fun. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwich
Travel sandwiches require good keeping properties. The ingredients have to hold up for hours at room temperature and can’t be too moist, or the bread will become soggy and fall apart. In deference to fellow travelers, I choose fillings that taste great but aren’t pungent. (Garlic aioli has a place in my life, but it’s not within the confines of an airplane.)
Stone Fruit Caprese
A standout caprese starts with great fruit. You need ripe tomatoes to weep juices, which then mingle with grassy olive oil and milky cheese to make your dressing. Basil adds freshness, black pepper and flakes of sea salt add crunch, and that’s it, a perfect combination. But if the stone fruit options are looking better than the tomatoes at the market, you can use them instead. They’re similar in flavor to tomatoes, but need cajoling to relinquish their juices. By letting sliced fruit macerate with salt, sugar and lemon juice, their fruitiness becomes more electric and their juices pool on the plate. Start with fruit you can smell and pair it with equally quality ingredients. Caprese is more about shopping than cooking.
Watermelon and Feta Salad
A take on the Mediterranean combination of watermelon and feta, this refreshing zinger of a salad couldn’t be more perfect. Unassumingly simple, the sweet melon, salty cheese and fragrant basil reach their peak when doused with white balsamic vinegar and dribbled with fruity olive oil. Rather than building tall, this salad builds wide — so use a large platter for the most dramatic presentation. Vinegared watermelon does not keep its crisp, juicy texture well, so be sure to dress it (and eat it) the moment the last basil leaf falls.
Cheesy Pizza Stuffing
Imagine Thanksgiving stuffing, but with the red-sauce flavors of cheese pizza. Tomato paste and dried oregano, bloomed in buttery onions, do the heavy lifting in this comforting dish, as does an ivory shower of shredded mozzarella, which melts and gets gooey in spots. Stale bread works best, so dry out the bread the night before you plan to make this, or bake the torn pieces in a 250-degree oven until they’re brittle. You can also assemble the stuffing the night before Thanksgiving; just keep it covered in the refrigerator and bake it the next day while the turkey is resting. Serve this warm, while the cheese is still molten.
Raw Artichoke Salad
In Italy, a favorite way to serve fresh small artichokes is raw, dressed with oil and lemon. It couldn’t be a simpler presentation, and it’s sensational. Slice the trimmed artichokes as thinly as possible, then season and toss with fruity extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Serve over arugula and add curls of Parmesan.
Marinated Celery Salad With Chickpeas and Parmesan
Celery is an underappreciated vegetable that brings wonderful crunch, perfume and bitterness to a salad (and no wonder: It’s related to carrots, parsley and fennel). Here it is front and center in a main-dish salad, especially satisfying with a poached egg or some charcuterie on the side. Buy full green heads of celery, not the pale hearts, and make sure the leaves are still attached. But if you can’t find celery with leaves, chopped parsley is a reasonable substitute.
Pimento Mac and Cheese
This recipe combines two classic Southern dishes to create something special: Pimento cheese, a spread for sandwiches, crackers and vegetables, meets mac and cheese for a peppery and spicier version of the traditional baked casserole. The core ingredients of pimento cheese — sharp yellow Cheddar, pimento peppers and cream cheese — cook into a sauce that’s creamier and tangier than the usual purely cheese base.
Charred Cauliflower Stew
This vegetarian stew uses two different techniques — grilling (or broiling) and pickling — to coax the maximum amount of flavor from cauliflower. Charring the cauliflower before adding it to your stew delivers smoky depth; quick-pickling some grated cauliflower adds bright spikes of flavor that contrast nicely with everything else in the bowl.
Brussels Sprouts Salad With Apples and Walnuts
Raw brussels sprouts can stand up to the boldest and most assertive of flavors. Pair the shredded sprouts with a garlicky lemon dressing, plenty of aged Parmesan and crushed toasted walnuts. Toss in something crispy and sweet (apples and pears are ideal) and a bit of something fresh (mint and pomegranate) for a balanced bite.
Mini Oatmeal-Cranberry Whoopie Pies
These whoopie pies may be small, but they are packed with flavor. Chewy oatmeal cookies are spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, and studded with dried cranberries. After baking, they’re sandwiched around a tangy, fluffy cream cheese and cranberry filling. Make them up to three days ahead and store them in the refrigerator, stacked between pieces of parchment paper in an airtight container, or freeze them for up to 1 month. Feel free to add chopped pecans or walnuts for crunch, and substitute other dried fruit (raisins, chopped apricots, diced apple) for the cranberries. These are as adaptable as they are adorable.
Shepherd’s Pie
Shepherds are in the business of herding sheep, which makes lamb the most obvious choice for this shepherd's pie recipe, but ground beef is a tasty addition. The combination of ground lamb and ground beef is earthy and robust, and keeps lamb’s gaminess in check. Ground lamb tends to be fatty, so this recipe uses lean ground beef to compensate. If you prefer all beef, be sure to use something with a little more fat (and call it a cottage pie, if you like). And if you prefer all lamb, you may want to skim off some of the extra fat after browning the meat.
Breakfast Salad
From the same trend that brought us avocado toast, the breakfasts served in Australian cafes often include bright vegetables arranged in eye-catching ways. Salad is definitely not part of the traditional American breakfast menu, but on a sunny morning the combination of chilled, crunchy greens; protein-rich cheese and eggs; and an eye-opening dressing is hugely appealing. This one was created at Carthage Must Be Destroyed, an airy (and slightly eccentric) Australian-style cafe hidden behind an unmarked entrance in Brooklyn. The chef and owner Amanda Bechara likes to leave the lettuce leaves whole to make it easier to eat with your fingers. (You can prepare the vegetables the day before, and skip marinating the feta if you must.) This would also make a lovely lunch.
Risotto With Sausage and Parsley
This is a very simple if slightly stove-intensive dinner, a two-pot meal that comes together serially to achieve a hearty whole. I use sweet Italian sausage most of the time, but the hot varieties work as well, and always the richest chicken stock available — sometimes adding bouillon to my homemade stock for the extra oomph it provides. The key is stirring, stirring, stirring the rice as you add the stock, taking care to incorporate each ladleful entirely into the rice before adding more. Taste often at the end, and adjust the seasoning as you like, but do not stint on either the lemon juice or the parsley, as their brightness acts as a terrific foil to the rich, unctuous quality of the rice.
Smashed Potatoes With Bacon, Cheese and Greens
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. Get some nice baseball-sized, yellow-fleshed potatoes, one per person, and cut them into quarters. Toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper on a sheet pan, and slide them into a hot oven to roast, say 425 degrees. While they’re cooking, make yourself useful: Fry some bacon; grate some Cheddar; toss a few large handfuls of spinach or baby kale with olive oil, just enough to lightly coat the leaves; slice some avocados; and see if you have some sour cream in the refrigerator. When the potatoes are soft, pull them from the oven and smash the pieces down with the bottom of a coffee cup or drinking glass. Arrange the smashed potatoes on the sheet pan, and top each portion with greens, a chopped slice of cooked bacon, and plenty of cheese. Return to the oven to melt the cheese, then garnish with avocado and dots of sour cream. Or yogurt! It’s a no-recipe recipe. There are no rules! Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.
Baby Greens With Balsamic-Roasted Turnips and Walnuts
In spring I welcome tender raw turnips into my salads, but I use another approach in the winter. I took some medium-size turnips that had been lingering in my crisper for some weeks, tossed them with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and roasted them. They would make a fine side dish, but I had a salad in mind. I paired the roasted turnips with tender baby greens, walnuts and blue cheese. I have served the turnips warm with the salad and also after they cooled; I liked them best warm.
Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing
This is an excellent dressing for wedge salads, and for ones of grilled romaine. I love it drizzled over a pile of really, really ripe tomatoes. It's a great dip for spicy chicken wings. And it is also good with steak. The amounts listed below are merely starting points. Adjust them as you like, to achieve the flavors you like.