Cheese

Melty, cheesy, crunchy, spicy: These sandwiches, a street food favorite in India, check all the boxes.

These pillowy biscuits are stuffed with spinach and cheese, but they work equally well with any other vegetable you care to throw at them. Swap the spinach for up to a cup of roasted squash, charred poblanos, or other cooked vegetable, and sub the Gruyère with any other cheese you like (if you choose a more intense cheese like feta or blue cheese, use ¾ cup instead of the full cup). 

Miso gives this take on the classic Roman pecorino-and-pepper pasta an extra savory, satisfying bite. You can make your own fresh noodles at home, or use store-bought.

Meet your new go-to flavor booster: butter that’s fully equipped with blue cheese and garlic. Layer on charred winter squash (any variety will work), then top it off with nuts and fresh herbs.

In chef Matty Matheson’s riff on the Nashville hot fish sandwich, crispy golden fish fillets get smothered in a smoky chile butter and layered with onions, pickles, and cheese.

This is bread topped with an easy chile-pecan paste that can be used in so many different ways, but the paste spread on some bread and topped with slices of Brie, sprinkled with sugar, and then broiled.

Standing three tiers high, the magnificent Bombay sandwich is a whopper of a construction. It’s available on every street corner, and each stallholder obsesses over their own special blend of spices, vegetables, and chutneys, for that “better than yours” taste. Although it’s a wonder, it’s also a labor of love to make at home, and so in this recipe I’ve attempted to embody its spirit—a sharp, hot green chutney, cheese, and onion—but in a pastry roll that can be made in just minutes.

Pizza meets eggs in purgatory in this one-skillet stovetop meal which is punchy from tomatoes, creamy from starchy orzo and melty mozzarella, and ready in under an hour.

Packed full of a rainbow of colors, flavors, and textures, from spiced paneer, chickpeas, and tomatoes to roasted beets, sweet potatoes, and a citrusy coconut and cilantro sauce this is a vegetable dish for special occasions.

The dark brown sugar gives this cake a little molasses edge, which cuts the sweetness of the berries and the richness of the cream cheese.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that a hot oven is involved here—this is really a stovetop mac and cheese. It only hangs out in the oven for 10 minutes, just long enough to get all the cheese properly melted.

While pimento cheese is perfect as is as a spread, it also makes a pretty darn good queso-like dip. This particular version is smooth and velvety and has a kick of smoke and heat thanks to chipotle in adobo sauce—even pimento purists will find it delicious.

Traditionally, enfrijoladas are made by dipping stale tortillas into leftover frijoles from the night before. They are also great topped with a fried egg, or with roasted vegetables instead of chorizo to make this a plant-based breakfast.