We dig it on our pizza, require it on our burgers and have even been known to melt it on our fries. It’s cheese, the well-loved ingredient that gets a whole lot richer when things are heated up. In these side dishes, cheese isn’t simply an afterthought to be dashed on top. It’s an integral part, giving things a creamy, rich edge in all the right ways. Tune into our roster of cheesy, decadent sides — each recipe is complete with a good showing of spring vegetables.

Due to Arborio rice’s natural starch content, risotto on its own has a creamy quality. But, according to Ina Garten, you simply can’t have risotto without the Parmesan. Her veggie-packed Spring Green Risotto comes together with freshly grated Parm and smooth, rich mascarpone. In the spirit of spring, Ellie Krieger’s Garden Risotto has a garden variety, with peas, asparagus and baby spinach.

Think of Food Network Magazine’s Spring Shells and Cheese (pictured above) as a grown-up mac and cheese — with its mature fix of veggies, too. Zucchini gives it a nice crunch, while spinach slides in for some good green. Or unload a batch of spring peas into this creamy Four Cheese Pasta With Peas and Ham by Food Network Magazine.

Get more cheesy spring side recipes from friends and family

Stretchy Melters
Instead of oozing, these get stringy and elastic when melted — good for when you want the cheese to stay put, like on pizza.

Find out which cheeses are creamy and are non-melters

Hot Tips for Cooking With Cheese From Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:

When a recipe calls for grated cheese, you might not always know how big a block you should buy. The texture of the cheese makes all the difference, but as a general rule, 3 to 4 ounces whole yields 1 cup grated. To measure grated cheese, put it in a dry measuring cup and tap it against the counter; don’t pack it firmly.

(Photograph by Marko Metzinger/Studio D)

Hot Tips for Cooking With Cheese From Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:

Lower-fat cheeses like part-skim mozzarella may actually work better than fuller-fat versions for pizza and baked pasta — they get extra stretchy and stringy instead of overly oozy.

Hot Tips for Cooking With Cheese From Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:

Ricotta is high in moisture, so when it’s baked on a crust (think calzones, pizza or savory pies), it can make the dough soggy. To prevent this, add a tablespoon or two of breadcrumbs to the ricotta filling, like Food Network Magazine did for these Three-Cheese Calzones (pictured above). The crumbs will absorb excess liquid from the cheese and keep the crust dry.

In the March issue of Food Network Magazine, you’ll find my recipe for homemade ricotta. Traditionally, ricotta is made from the whey left over during scale cheese production, but at home it’s easy to make using fresh milk. In my version, I chose to add a little bit of heavy cream to the mixture to make it a little richer and more luxurious.

There are 101 ways to use ricotta, but when you are using homemade stuff, it’s best to do as little to it as possible. One of my favorite ways to eat it is in a simple sandwich inspired by one I love at Saltie, a Brooklyn sandwich shop:

Split a 5-inch square of focaccia through the middle and lightly toast it, then drizzle it with some good-quality olive oil. Mix about 1/3 cup of ricotta (preferably still warm) with about 2 tablespoons mixed chopped basil, tarragon and chives, a good grind of black pepper and a tiny bit of freshly grated lemon zest; spread it on 1 side of the bread. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a small nonstick skillet over medium-low heat, and add a lightly beaten egg and a pinch of salt to the pan; stir it constantly with a rubber spatula to make a very soft scrambled egg with small curds (it will take longer than you are used to). Scoop the egg onto the ricotta and top it with the other piece of bread.

Hot Tips for Cooking With Cheese From Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:

Instead of buying presliced cheese in packages, hit the deli counter to find more interesting cheeses, like havarti, Gruyere or chipotle gouda, then have them freshly sliced. Ultra thin, machine-sliced cheese melts into a nice even layer. Plus, you can buy only as much as you need and specify the thickness.

Parmesan crisps (frico in Italian) look fancy, but they’re actually just cheese and crackers for the lazy. You get the crunch of a cracker plus big cheese flavor in one — and they’re super easy to make. Toss 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan with 1 tablespoon flour, then flavor with 1 to 2 teaspoons minced herbs, spices and/or citrus zest. Form the cheese mixture into 12 mounds (2 tablespoons each) and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment and coated with cooking spray; then flatten into 4-inch rounds. Bake at 375 degrees F until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. While hot, gently remove them from the sheet with a thin spatula and let cool completely.

Clockwise from top left: Lemon zest, Pepper, Curry-coriander, Smoked paprika and Scallion

(Photograph by Kang Kim)

Have some fun at your next dinner party and serve a cheese course with toast shaped like goats, cows and sheep to match the milk each cheese was made from. Just butter slices of dense bread like rye, raisin walnut or pumpernickel, then cut out the animals (we found cutters at cookiecutter.com) and toast them in the oven. Spread the goat toast with Humboldt Fog, Bucheron or chevre, top the cows with Gruyere, Gouda or aged cheddar and top the sheep with manchego, Roquefort or pecorino toscano.

(Photograph by Kang Kim)

Put out a state-themed cheese board. Then, plan a trip to see the cheesiest destinations in America.

Getting a new license plate can be a headache. Getting a license-plate cheese board, not so much. These fun state-themed beech-wood boards (pictured above) are etched with locally themed tag numbers, like BIG APL3 for New York and FRS SQZ for Florida. Eight states are up for grabs: California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Massachusetts, Washington, Florida and Minnesota ($25 each, Talisman Designs; amazon.com).

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