Choose cheese according to whether it should melt, brown, crumble or be served cold. These recipes pair different varieties with pasta, vegetables, potatoes, breads and fresh salads.
Recipes
Prepare cooked potatoes, mushrooms, peppers, corn and cucumbers in portions in raclette pans and sauté under cheese. Drain moist ingredients well and do not fill the pans too high to make the cheese brown.
Mountain cheese and Emmentaler are melted in portions in hot white wine and bound with garlic and mixed starch. Stir in the cheese over medium heat and do not boil until bubbling, otherwise the fat can separate from the mixture.
Puff pastry is spread with pesto, Parmesan cheese and dried tomatoes, rolled up, cooled and sliced until crispy. A short cooling time stabilises the roll; a sharp knife prevents the snails from being compressed during cutting.
Short pastry is pressed into small moulds and baked with sweaty leeks, egg-cream-glaze and gouda. Let leeks evaporate before filling and do not overfill the moulds so that the bottom and glaze cook clean.
A speculoos base is baked with a cream cheese-curd filling and finished with cinnamon after completely cooling. Stir the filling only until smooth and let the cake cool slowly to ensure that the surface and consistency remain even.
Blanched Brussels sprouts are moulded with cream, milk and nutmeg and gratinated with mountain cheese and crumbs until golden brown. Precook Brussels sprouts only just and allow to steam well, so that they do not soften in the oven and the sauce does not thicken.
Pre-cooked potatoes, peppers, mushrooms and corn are spread in pans and fried under raclette cheese. Cut the watery vegetables into small pieces and drain well so that the cheese browns instead of floating in liquid.
Gingerbread Tiramisu is a festive dessert without baking with gingerbread, mascarpone and curd cream, coffee, cocoa, cinnamon and orange. It is very easy to prepare.
Feldleat with pomegranate is a festive winter salad without a stove. Feldleat, pomegranate seeds, orange, walnuts, feta and honey mustard dressing ensure freshness on the Christmas table.
A biscuit base is baked with cream cheese and curd paste and then decorated with melted chocolate as a spider web. Ingredients for the filling should be room temperature and only stirred briefly to prevent the cake from breaking.
Cheese strips are placed around salt sticks as bristles, bound with chives and fixed with a small amount of cream cheese. Do not cut cheese too thinly and insert the salt sticks just before serving to keep them crispy.
Roast the pumpkin cubes, then cook the risotto rice with onion and hot stock until creamy, and finish with sage, butter and Parmesan. Add the stock in portions only and mash part of the pumpkin so that the risotto binds without becoming mushy.
Tortilla chips are topped with beans, corn, jalapenos and cheddar and only cooked until the cheese has melted. Spread the chips in a broad, not too high layer and serve the salsa and sour cream separately to keep them crispy.
Spiced beef patties are roasted vigorously and built up with cheddar, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and burger sauce in the bun. Turn patties only once and melt the cheese on the hot meat; do not put the monster decoration on until assembled.
Roasted pumpkin meat, spinach, ricotta, tomato sauce and lasagne platters are layered and baked under mozzarella. Do not leave the pumpkin filling too moist and let the lasagna rest before cutting it to form stable pieces.
Pizza dough is thinly topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella, decorated with peppers and olives as Halloween motifs and baked very hot. Spread the topping sparingly and preheat the tin completely so that the small pizzas become crispy despite the decoration.
Orange peppers are cut out as a face and baked with a pre-cooked mixture of rice, beans, corn, tomatoes and cheese. Rice and filling must be pre-cooked, because the peppers should only soften and retain colour in the oven.
Roast chestnuts in sage butter and add the pasta water in portions to prevent the sauce from becoming heavy or watery. Add the pasta water and the butter and the butter will be creamy.
Slices of potato and blanched Brussels sprouts are layered with a nutmeg and cream glaze and baked under Gouda. Slice potatoes thinly and pre-cook Brussels sprouts so that they are both soft at the same time before the cheese turns too dark.
Roast the hokkaido cubes until soft, brown gnocchi separately and combine both with sage butter, garlic and Parmesan. Fry the pumpkin and gnocchi in portions to ensure that they both colour and do not soften in any leaking liquid.
Field lettuce is served with pear wedges, roasted walnuts, blue cheese and an apple vinegar and honey vinaigrette. Field lettuce must be dry; pear and dressing are added just before eating so that the leaves do not crumble.
Thin slices of beetroot are covered with rocket, goat cheese and walnuts and drizzled with balsamic honey dressing. Drain the beetroot well and add the goat cheese only when serving, so that the carpaccio remains clearly layered.
Roast the hokkaido slices and red onion with oil and thyme and finish with feta, walnuts and a little honey. Add the honey and feta towards the end, so that nuts and cheese do not burn and the pumpkin still browns vigorously.
Mushrooms are roasted separately, while risotto rice with onion, white wine and hot stock is cooked gradually until creamy. Finally, the mushrooms are returned to the rice to remain browned; Parmesan is stirred away from the heat.
Courgette and peppers are grilled, halloumi is given strong grill strips and everything is layered with tomato and lemon yoghurt in the bun. Halloumi is grilled just before assembling, because it quickly solidifies when cooled.