Say Cheese

If you're a cheese lover, brace yourself because you are going to be amazed with this recipe. It's for parmesan salsa. Yes, you read that correctly: parmesan salsa! It's a fantastic dip that's made like any regular tomato salsa — with a food processor. Instead of serving with tortilla chips, pair the chunky cheese spread with toasted bread.

Seriously, this addictive salsa is to die for; I've made it countless times and it always gets rave reviews. It's very easy to put together, so it's great for entertaining. Since it's all about the cheese, it's worth it to splurge on a good quality parmesan and asiago. To learn how it's made — trust me you won't be disappointed with this appetizer — keep reading.

After obsessing over the perfect Thanksgiving menu, I hit send on the email — with the very important grocery list — to my father, only to realize I had forgotten one crucial item: the appetizer! I didn't want to serve something heavy or difficult to make, and I didn't have time to browse the Internet in search of inspiring hors d'oeuvres ideas.

Thus, I decided to make baked goat cheese. Quite possibly the world's simplest dish, baked goat cheese is just that, cheese that's cooked in an oven-safe dish. I served it with crostini, but feel free to offer your favorite cracker instead. To get the recipe (it's kind of silly calling it a recipe; it's that easy!), keep reading.

Good-quality cheese is expensive and if I'm going to purchase a wedge of imported Italian Parmesan cheese, I like to use the entire chunk — including the rind. Luckily, I learned a long time ago that the rinds can be used to season soups and stews. Once you've grated all the cheese off, wrap the rind tightly in plastic wrap and throw in the freezer. The next time you make minestrone, chicken noodle soup, or any other Italian-style, stock-based soup or light stew, simply toss the rind in. It will melt and seep a nutty, cheesy goodness into the soup. How easy is that?!

Do you reserve and reuse cheese rinds? Tell us how below!

Fontina is a creamy Italian cow's milk cheese with a texture that varies depending on the age. Typically young fontina is soft and extremely good for melting, while mature fontina is hard. Originally native to Italy's Aosta Valley, fontina is now produced in Denmark, France, and the United States. However, Italian fontina has a stronger, richer, more pungent flavor than those created in other areas. Fontina has a pale-yellow color and mild, nutty flavor that's wonderful for almost any use, whether it's eating out of hand or smashed in a sandwich. To find out how fontina made these grilled pizza bites incredibly delectable, read more

Cotija (pronounced co-tee-ha) is an aged, hard cow's milk cheese native to Mexico. It has a strong, salty flavor and firm quality that's ideal for grating or crumbling. Cotija is packaged and sold in blocks (or rounds) and sometimes comes pregrated. On the tongue, cotija is dry and grainy, thus it's employed to add texture to traditional Mexican dishes. To find out how I used it in this snappy corn salad, read more

Earlier today I teased your tastebuds with a goat cheese quiz, so it's only fair to share my current favorite goat cheese recipe: tomato and goat cheese tarts. Goat's milk has a high amount of fatty acids (much more than cow's milk) that provide the cheese with its characteristic tart flavor.

Goat cheese most commonly comes in a soft, spreadable, crumbly form, although there are hard aged varieties that have a consistency more like feta. Since goats are hardy animals that can survive in areas where cows cannot — parts of the Middle East, Africa, and the Mediterranean — goat cheese is the world's most widely consumed cheese.

I love the salty and creamy flavor of goat cheese and almost always have it in my refrigerator. To see how I paired the tangy cheese with ripe tomatoes to make this easy tart, read more

Whenever I browse the selection of cheeses at my local market, there's one thing I always think, "gosh cheese is expensive." Sometimes I'll indulge on a pricey artisanal cheese, but the majority of the time I'm that girl looking at the weight-to-price ratio, searching for the cheapest chunk of cheese. Upon the suggestion of a very friendly cheese monger, I've started purchasing cheese from regions that aren't known for cheese production — like Parmesan from Argentina or in the case of this recipe, feta from Bulgaria. It's a more affordable way to try a wide variety of cheese. Although the Greeks take claim of feta cheese, it's also produced and consumed in Bulgaria where it's known as sirene. The flavor is similar to Greek feta, but the Bulgarian version is saltier with a more pungent smell. To find out how I turned the cheese into a quick and easy appetizer, read more

On Monday one of the Sugar girls came into work raving about an amazing blue cheese burger she had over the weekend. The cheese was stuffed inside the patty, and a tangy red pepper aioli moistened the bun. Remembering that I had some Point Reyes Blue Cheese in my fridge, I decided to try grilling up some blue cheese burgers.

The pairing of beef and blue cheese is a classic one and it translates well to a hamburger. To complement the burger, I made a quick garlic aioli and grilled veggies. The final burger is more sophisticated than its cheddar all-American counterpart, but it's just as tasty. Sticking the cheese inside the meat results in a delightful ooziness. To experiment with your own molten center blue cheese burger get the recipe and read more

A couple of weeks ago I read an article on the Atlantic's food blog that recommended making a grilled skewer appetizer with smoked cheese cubes wrapped in pancetta. The story reminded me of a delicious tapa I had years ago in a Spanish dive bar. Anxious to re-create the dish, I headed to the store and purchased thinly sliced pancetta and smoked mozzarella. There's really no recipe, you simply wrap a 1/2-inch cube of cheese with pancetta, skewer, and place on the grill. This is where I ran into trouble. The cheese melted before the pancetta could fully cook, sticking to the grill. I transferred the skewers to a frying pan to try and salvage them, but the cheese continued to melt, clumping together. While the final bite tasted wonderful, the technique needs some fine tuning.

Do you have any advice for getting the pancetta to cook before the cheese melts? Have you ever made cheese skewers?