Cheeses for dinner
Gratins, pastas, curries and the evening meal.
At dinner, cheese is cooked into the main dish: melted into pasta, baked in gratins, simmered in curries and stews, and grated over soups. Palak paneer and matar paneer in India, macaroni cheese in Britain and North America, lasagne and risotto in Italy, Käsespätzle in southern Germany and Austria, ema datshi in Bhutan and aligot in France are dinners in which cheese does the heavy lifting.
Paneer at the evening table
Paneer holds its shape in sauce, which makes it the centre of many North Indian dinners: palak paneer with spinach, matar paneer with peas, shahi paneer in a cream and nut gravy, kadai paneer with peppers, and paneer butter masala. For many vegetarian households, paneer fills the place meat might take elsewhere. In Bengal, chhena is cooked into a curry called chhanar dalna, and in Odisha into chhena tarkari, both made with potatoes and warm spices.
Pasta, rice and dumplings
Italy cooks Parmigiano, pecorino and Fontina into risotto, lasagne, cacio e pepe and baked pasta. Macaroni cheese, baked with cheddar, is a family dinner in Britain and the United States. In southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Käsespätzle layers soft egg noodles with mountain cheese and fried onions. Polish pierogi ruskie fill dumplings with potato and twaróg, and Georgian khinkali have a cheese-filled version beside the classic meat.
Cheese stews of the mountains
Bhutan's ema datshi cooks green or dried chillies with datshi into a sauce eaten with red rice, and kewa datshi does the same with potatoes. In Nepal and Sikkim, churpi is cooked with greens and tomatoes. France's aligot, from the Aubrac, beats young tomme into mashed potato until it stretches in long ribbons, and Savoy's tartiflette bakes Reblochon over potatoes, onions and lardons. These are dishes made to feed people after a cold day outside.
Worth knowing
- Palak paneer: Paneer in spinach
- Matar paneer: Paneer with peas in tomato gravy
- Macaroni and cheese: Baked pasta in cheese sauce
- Käsespätzle: Egg noodles layered with mountain cheese
- Ema datshi: Bhutanese chillies with cheese
- Aligot: Stretchy cheese and potato of the Aubrac
- Tartiflette: Reblochon baked over potatoes
- Pierogi: Polish dumplings with potato and twaróg
Sources and further reading
Original text by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Dinner on EveryCheese
The cheeses written up so far, best known first.
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreFetaφέτα
A crumbly Greek brined cheese made from sheep and goat milk.Sheep · Brined · Tangy and lactic
🇾🇪 YemenYemeni cheeseجبنة تعز
A smoked semi-hard sheep or goat milk cheese from Taiz Governorate in Yemen.Sheep · Semi-soft · Savoury and brothy
🇪🇸 SpainPata de mulo cheese
A tubular, hard ewe's-milk cheese from Spain, shaped like a mule's leg.Sheep · Hard · Salty
🇲🇹 MaltaĠbejna
A small Maltese sheep's-milk cheese shaped in reed hurdles and sold fresh, dried, or peppered.Sheep · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreRicotta
A fresh Italian whey cheese made by reheating leftover proteins from other cheesemaking batches.Sheep · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreCasu MarzuCasu martzu
A Sardinian fermented sheep cheese containing live fly larvae.Sheep · Savoury and brothy
🇸🇰 Slovakia and 5 moreBryndza
A tangy, crumbly sheep's milk cheese from Central and Eastern Europe.Sheep · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 morePecorino Romano
A hard, salty sheep's-milk cheese from Italy, aged at least five months and protected by EU law.Sheep · Hard · Salty
🇫🇷 FranceBrocciu
A fresh Corsican cheese made from sheep milk and whey, drained in rush baskets.Sheep · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreKefalotyriκεφαλοτύρι
A hard, salty Greek cheese made from sheep or goat milk, aged for grating or frying.Sheep · Hard · Salty
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreKasseriκασέρι
A pasta filata sheep's milk cheese aged for at least three months in Greece and Turkey.Sheep · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇬🇷 GreeceGravieraγραβιέρα
A hard Greek cheese made from sheep or cow milk, aged for months and marked with a crisscross rind.Sheep · Hard · Sweet and caramel
🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreCircassian cheeseадыгейский сыр
A fresh, basket-molded cow's milk cheese from the North Caucasus that holds its shape when heated.Cow · Fresh
🇮🇷 IranLighvan cheeseپنیر لیقوان
A sour brined sheep's milk curd cheese from the village of Liqvan in Iran.Sheep · Brined · Salty
🇬🇷 GreeceAnthotyrosΑνθότυρος
A traditional Greek whey cheese made from sheep or goat milk, available in fresh and dry forms.Sheep · Fresh · Sweet and caramel
🇬🇷 GreeceLadotyri MytilinisΛαδοτύρι Μυτιλήνης
A hard Greek cheese from Lesbos preserved in olive oil since ancient times.Sheep · Hard · Savoury and brothy
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreRomano cheese
A hard, salty American grating cheese made from cow, goat, or sheep milk.Cow · Hard · Salty
🇬🇷 GreeceFormaelaΦορμαέλα
A hard, pungent sheep or goat milk cheese from Arachova, Greece.Sheep · Hard · Pungent and funky
🇪🇸 SpainMallorcaformatge mallorquí
A semi-hard cow, goat or sheep milk cheese from the Balearic Islands with an olive-oiled rind.Cow · Semi-hard · Milky and fresh
🇹🇷 TurkeyMihaliç Peyniri
A hard, brined sheep’s milk cheese shaped into rounds or slices for Turkish cookingSheep · Hard
🇽🇰 Kosovo and 2 moreSharr cheeseDjathë i Sharrit / Шарски сир
A hard, salty cow and sheep milk cheese from the Šar Mountains of Kosovo.Cow · Hard · Salty
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Brocciu: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pecorino Romano: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source
- Akkawi: Paul Joseph, CC BY 2.0, source
- Lighvan cheese: farsnews.ir, CC BY 4.0, source
- Anthotyros: Giorgos ab1234, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ricotta: 8w9d, CC0, source
- Circassian cheese: Tetk200, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Romano cheese: Brian Boucheron, CC BY 2.0, source
- Sharr cheese: ThinkTank123, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Feta: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Casu Marzu: Shardan, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Ġbejna: Chattacha, CC BY 3.0, source
- Pata de mulo cheese: Triplecaña, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bryndza: Kagor, GFDL, source
- Graviera: Catlemur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kasseri: E4024, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kefalotyri: J.P.Lon, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ladotyri Mytilinis: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mallorca: Tamorlan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source