I love cheese. If there’s one topping in this world that’s better than a layer of cheese, it’s another layer of cheese. There’s so many great ways to eat it… Grated, melted, sliced.. biting chunks out of a big slab like some gigantic, bathrobe-wearing, human mouse. It’s versatile, filling and delicious. Let’s look at just some of the ways it can accelerate meals to the next level.
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Which therefore must mean it’s even more important to find ways to put cheese into your morning meals. The breakfast omelette is always reliable – packed full of protein, and wonderfully tasty. But it can be made even better. Once your omelette is flat on the pan near completion grate some chedder onto one side of it, then fold the bare half on top of the cheese side and leave for another 30-60 seconds, then flip it for a further 30 seconds, so both sides are just beginning to brown, and viola! Your omelette now has a gooey, stringy filling. Top with freshly-chopped chives to complement.
Or if you’re more the avocado-on-toast type, try grating some parmezan on top to give it a tangy kick. Or for full decadence just fill a sandwich with nothing but the good stuff and mix cheedar and mozzarella, then pan-fry it in butter, squeezing it down with a ladel until the cheese runs flowing out the side to match the drool escaping your mouth. No-one said it had to be pretty.
Similarly you can improve on almost every pasta-based dinner. Just cook the meal as you would normally, then grate cheddar and mozzarella over the top, and stick in the oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 20 minutes. Bam! A reliable roof of cheese.
If you get tired of stuffing cheese into your mouth, stuff if into food as a filling, THEN stuff it in your mouth. Bell peppers, sweet potatoes, aubergine.. just cut them in half and scoop it in. And yes, those are vegetables, because even though it’s the big daddy of comfort food, it doesn’t have to be unhealthy.
Sprinkle feta over an olive-filled salad to bring a much-needed zing to those boring leaves. Mix it with chopped cauliflower for a super quick, easy, and healthy cauliflower cheese dinner. Grate cheddar, parmezan, or even feta into a variety of soups to richen them with a wholesome flavour. And you can always swap out your regular cheeses for the low-fat option, most supermarkets sell them.
Or if you’re vegetarian, vegan, or just trying to cut down on dairy, there are plenty of imitation cheeses available now. There’s no need to be put off by the fact it’s not ‘real’ cheese – the taste isn’t quite the same, but it’s not far off and heat still turns it into melty goodness (the most important bit of course). And it comes in a bunch of different types: cheddar, feta, halloumi, and more.
That’s the beauty – it can be applied to almost any recipe or diet, any time of day. Like my father always told me: “When in doubt, more cheese!”