Cheese on toast for dinner? Absolutely yes. I’m up for it any time, sometimes in a zhuzhed up version. It’s comfort food at its best, especially in colder seasons.
Cheese, preferably melted, makes any dish better. And it’s nutritionally valuable, adding extra protein to an otherwise plant based dish, for instance. It’s a source of calcium and vitamin D, and even Professor Tim Spector of ZOE fame praises cheese benefits in diet. But the main thing in my view is: if cheese makes you happy, it must be good.
Here are my best cheesy dinner recipes.
Scamorza is smoked, aged mozzarella cheese, easily recognisable for its shape: like a flesh-coloured pear. It melts like an angel and tastes like mozzarella, only better. I like to prepare it as a posh Italian cheese on toast: baked and served with a garlic bruschetta.
The main attraction of French Alps is not the snow or the pistes: it’s tartiflette. At least pour moi. Tartiflette uses Reblochon cheese which is easily available in supermarkets these days. But at a push, a ripe Camembert might do to sit on top of those potatoes, bacon and onions.
It’s so colourful! And it’s insanely delicious. Vegetable slices, the more and the more colourful, the merrier, are arranged in a ring and showered with Cheddar cheese – or whatever cheesy bits your fridge has to offer. It’s good enough to present for dinner on its own but just as happy alongside meats.
Swiss cheese tart, käsewähe, is the street food of Basel and the kind of savoury cheesecake that is totally addictive. Plus, the recipe includes a delightful wholemeal savoury shortcrust, an excellent base for a tart or a pie.
Halloumi, the gorgeous squeaky cheese is fantastic, not just in battered sticks dipped in chilli sauce. In this recipe it makes an otherwise boring chicken salad exciting, especially paired with fruity, tangy, sweet peach salsa.
Chicken and halloumi with peach salsa
RECIPE
Could we fail to mention mac n’ cheese? We could not! This cheesy dish is so popular in America it’s served as a side to steak or ribs, which sounds, feels and surely tastes a little bit over the top. Mine is a leeky macaroni cheese recipe, and it’s to be served without steak, in my view.
This is a completely wonderful dish, much better than just a plain old baked camembert without the croûte - crust. Which is an easy and delicious homemade shortcrust pastry, and it makes the dish wholesome and filling enough to be served as a main course, with a green salad.
Provolone is the best melting cheese for pasta al forno dishes so stock up if you find it in the shops. Cheese can be frozen, don’t forget. And this is a dish whose flavour can knock your socks off, and in a good way, with the best marinara sauce ever.
Next cheese in line is feta, excellent both baked as well as crumbled over dishes. Here it adds a protein element to a mix of roasted Mediterranean vegetables. Feta will be even nicer if you season it with black pepper, olive oil and mash it in with a fork before crumbling over.
Roasted vegetables with feta
RECIPE
Inspired by Ottolenghi’s squash and fondue pie, this one features mushrooms instead. Say what you will, they are far more exciting than squash. It’s a fusion of Alpine fondue and a Greek filo pie, and it certainly works a treat.
Mushroom and fondue filo pie
RECIPE
Another filo-wrapped cheesy dish, this time with a Spanish vibe. Empanada is traditionally a fried, filled pastry, a little like Cornish pasty, with vegetable and meat stuffing. My version is easy, full of cheesy spinach and totally delicious.
My favourite cheesy dinner: spicy lentils baked underneath a mass of molten cheese. I always recommend cooking lentils from scratch but to cut corners buy the ready-cooked ones in a pouch rather than tins. But don't forget cooking them from scratch is much better value.
Spicy cheesy lentil bake
RECIPE
Sweet potato tray bake with a topping of cheese, bacon, peppers and tomatoes: don’t you just love every word in this sentence? Sweet potato wedges are seasoned with Creole spice, and you can skip the bacon if you like.
Cheesy sweet potato tray bake
RECIPE