______ cheese bake?

[yummfood]

I looked in my refrigerator and I realized that I have a lot of cheese (particularly sharp cheddar, fontina, gruyere) that I need to use up!

Besides the obvious, mac 'n cheese, do you hounds have any favorite "________ cheese bake" recipes you'd like to share? It'd be nice if the recipe was vegetarian friendly. Thanks for your help!

[sancan]

Saw Jacques Pepin make Fromage Fort once and it looked really good. Here's a good recipe for it. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/fr...

[gmm]

Not a bake - but when I saw your post, I immediately thought of this recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/al....

[mcsheridan]

Potato-Mushroom Cheese Bake.

Shred the cheeses and add them to a béchamel sauce flavored with a little Worcestershire sauce, layer in a baking dish with sliced potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, sliced hard-cooked eggs (optional), add some buttered bread crumbs and bake. Hearty, filling...not diet food, but great in the depths of Winter! Roasted/steamed Broccoli on the side. :)

[yummfood]

*drool* this recipe is right up my alley! sounds so comforting, especially with the grey weather outside!

[Emme]

Vegetable cheese enchiladas with homemade red sauce... fill 'em out with any veggies you like - last time i included onions, green chiles, and oddly enough, shredded carrots...

[jmcarthur8]

You could throw any kind of cheese in and on a baked ziti type dish. Tomatoes, meat, spinach, pasta.. or lasagne noodles.. mushrooms, eggplant. Just layer up a bunch of stuff and bake it.

[alkapal]

"potato with cheese".

parboil some nice yukon golds, then peel, slice, layer into a gratin dish, add some cream and thyme, maybe jalapeño, plus your grated cheeses ( gruyere and fontina would be good), then sprinkle with bread crumbs and maybe some grated parm & bake till bubbly. there is no greater comfort food.

[HillJ]

Grilled tomato with cheese.
Cheese souffle
Cheese soup
Superbowl dips
Chudder, cheese & butter spread
Texas toast

[cheesemonger]

If you feel pressed to use the cheese before it spoils, do this: Throw it in a ziploc and freeze it. Then you can use it for any cooking application later. I keep cheese in my freezer until I am ready to make "100 cheese" fondue, gratin, mac-n-cheese, whatever.

The caveat with freezing cheese is that you are changing the texture by doing so. But you will also do so by cooking- so you can realistically only cook with cheese that you have frozen. Just thaw completely before using.

[greygarious]

Cheese strata, but instead of milk/cream in the custard, use tomato soup for 2/3 of the liquid.
Toast the bread first. An homage to grilled cheese and tomato soup.

[Jennalynn]

I know it's not a bake... but it really sounds like it's time for fondue.

You don't need a fondue pot if you have a small crockpot, that will work too.

[wineos]

This is exactly what I was thinking! I use both fontina and gruyere in my fondue.

[cheesecake17]

I like to cook a whole eggplant in the oven, scoop out the pulp, and top with shredded cheese and bake till bubbly. You can add chickpeas to the eggplant mixture.

To cook the eggplant- wrap a whole eggplant in foil, pierce a few times with a sharp knife, place on a cookie sheet. Bake till the eggplant is collapsed and very soft- about 1 hour.

[sunflwrsdh]

Eggplant stuffed with cheese sounds amazing!!!

[cheesecake17]

not what I was describing above, but eggplant suffed with cheese IS pretty awesome. I've made mini eggplants stuffed with vegetables and mozarella. It's really good, and not so unhealthy.

[yummfood]

yumm, this sounds delicious. I think I may have to give it a try!

[alkapal]

yum -- cheese and eggplant is delicious. i have a "country-style" recipe involving diced and peeled parboiled eggplant, shredded cheddar, crushed ritz crackers and ...yes...cream of mushroom soup. instead of the soup, you could use some roux and mushrooms, with a little veggie broth.

i'm not a casserole hater, and could eat on this for a week! ;-).