Cheese Heroes: Pasta

While there might be dozens of different types of pasta to cook with these days, one thing remains constant: It’s hard to resist a pasta dish enhanced with cheese.

That’s because the right cheese can help season and enrich your dish’s flavours, while adding further texture.

One such cheese that delivers that perfect, glossy finish on pasta is Perfect Italiano’s Ricotta. With its smooth texture and distinct light flavour, it improves pasta without overwhelming it. It also works beautifully when used to make soft, fluffy gnocchi like this version.

Gruyere also adds subtle, delicious flavour to pasta. Kapiti’s Kowhai Gruyere Style Cheese is a modern take on the traditional Gruyere with a sweet wine-like aroma and mild nutty flavour. It melts beautifully into a pasta dish, infusing it with its unique taste.

But if you’re looking for a bolder flavour for your pasta dishes, an obvious choice is a blue cheese.

Kapiti’s legendary Kikorangi Blue for example, offers a pasta sauce base with punch – simply heat the cheese gently with cream and use it with sundried tomatoes, mushrooms or cured meats. Kapiti’s Kahurangi Creamy Blue is also a lovely match for pasta.

Meanwhile, baked pasta dishes like lasagne benefit from plenty of Mainland’s Mozzarella. The consistency of this stretchy cheese helps it to absorb the other flavours in the dish, creating a beautiful fusion of tastes.

But regardless of the type of pasta served, be it creamy, herby or tomato-based, all benefit from a sprinkling of rich parmesan. Perfect Italiano’s Parmesan is perfect for bringing out the best in the flavours it is garnishing.

Whatever combination you opt for, warm, melted cheese and pasta bring with them comforting memories for diners - further cementing their place as one of the world’s favourite food combinations.