It’s 7pm on a Monday. You’re opening and closing your fridge and cupboards, hoping that a meal will appear if you look just one more time.
When you don’t want to wait for delivery or go to the grocery store, there’s one thing you probably have on hand to make: pasta. Everybody has that one pasta dish they make when they’re desperate, but it doesn’t just have to be just butter and Parmesan.
Nothing makes for a faster and more satisfying weeknight supper than a warm bowl of pasta— simply sauced and, of course, cheesed.
When you want to cheese-up pasta, what do you reach for? We’re guessing it’s probably grated Parmesan. But might we suggest trying something different the next time you boil up a pot?
Here are five other cheeses to consider adding to your pasta:
Brie
Brie’s silky smooth, unmanageably gooey, buttery brilliance and plump, velvety interior is a perfect match for pasta. Remove the rind and combine Reny Picot Brie with some of your leftover pasta cooking water to make a rich, silky sauce for your pasta.
Fontina
Fontina has transformative qualities when it’s melted and all of its savory intensity is multiplied by a million when it’s grated over a steaming bowl of pasta. Fontina also makes a great foundation for sauces. Try it in this recipe for Gnocchi in Fontina Sauce.
Mantoro
Reny Picot Mantoro is very similar to the popular Spanish Manchego cheese, but is made from 100% cow’s milk. Mantoro’s lasting sweetness and distinct acidity that tingles as it melts on your tongue works well in a variety of pastas. We recommend it in a carbonara with chorizo.
Smoked Gouda
Reny Picot Smoked Gouda is one of our favorite cheeses to eat on its own, but we also love to add it to pasta because it melts beautifully and adds a new depth of flavor to many a classically cheesy pasta dish—especially this mac and cheese.
Edam
At Old Europe Cheese, we offer Reny Picot Edam in its traditional globular form, but we have taken our same wonderful Edam and formed it into a slicing square format for your convenience. It’s a cheese best served in cold pasta dishes like our Edam Edamame Pasta Salad.
What cheeses do you love to add to your pasta? Head to our Facebook page and drop us a line—we’d love to hear from you!