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Asiago & Parmesan Herbed Oil

I often find that I have a small hunk of Parmesan left in the cheese drawer of the fridge. And, lately, I’ve been using that leftover hunk in this Cheese and Herbed Oil.

The cheese can be any kind you have – a little Cheddar, some Parm, Romano. But, I recommend sticking to the harder cheeses rather than going with a soft cheese like brie or blue cheese in this.

The herbs can be whatever you like, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, sage, etc. If you use fresh herbs you’ll need to use the mixture within a couple of days, as it can go bad. If you only use dried herbs, you have a little longer to use it, but I’d still recommend using it within a couple of weeks. The mixture can also be frozen into small potions for longer storage. Try using ice cube trays or silicon mini muffin pans for freezing in small portions. Then, take it out of the freezer as needed.

I’ve used this for all kinds of goodies!

I’ve topped zucchini with it and placed them under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese browns on top. For the cheese topped zucchini, I mostly used the herbs and the cheese, draining them out of the oil.

I’ve used the cheese to top fish, basically the same as process as the zucchini.

I’ve used the oil to saute things (draining out the cheese).

I’ve topped slices of bread, and broiled them to make an open face grilled cheese.

Simply dip crackers or toasted bread into the spread. Drop a frozen cheese & oil cube into a batch of soup. Top plain pasta with some herbed cheese oil. It would also be great to give as a gift. It’s really a flexible way to use some leftovers. Let your imagination run wild.

breaking the cheese into crumbles, step 1: Pierce a small portion with the sharp point of the knife. Don’t Break all the way through the cheese chunk.

breaking the cheese into crumbles, step 2: With the knife still in the cheese, tilt the knife so the cheese breaks off of the chunk. This way you get an uneven edge making your crumbles less uniform and prettier.

breaking the cheese into crumbles, step 3: Once you break the small chunk off of the hunk o’ cheese, pick it up with your clean fingers, and smash it into smaller pea sized pieces as needed. If the cheese is at room temperature, it’ll break apart fairly easily without much work on your part.