8 Ways to Use Fresh Cheese

Once you’ve made the quick Fresh Chive Cheese, creating this recipe is just a matter of slicing the cheese and some top-quality summer tomatoes.

Recipe: Tomato and Herb Salad with Fresh Chive Cheese

Ricotta makes these pancakes light and fluffy. At San Diego’s Crest Cafe, which created them, they’re served with sliced fresh fruit and a drizzle of warm berry coulis. Recipe: Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes

Use a bit of your precious batch to add sweetness and moisture to any kind of gnocchi―and leaven the somewhat heavier texture of potatoes (even sweet potatoes.)

Recipe: Sweet-Potato Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Spinach

Toss together shredded chicken with orzo pasta, sweet corn, chopped red onion, and basil. Add a ricotta-lemon dressing. Dinner's ready.

Recipe: Chicken, Corn, and Tomato Pasta Salad

Mild, delicate ricotta complements and smoothens the roughness of this pizza’s other, more boldly flavored toppings: coppa (a spicy cured meat) and peppery arugula.

Recipe: Coppa, Ricotta, and Arugula Pizza

For one of the easiest desserts you can make with fresh cheese, lighten fromage blanc with a little whipping cream, scatter berries on top, and drizzle with warm honey.

Recipe: Strawberries with Fromage Blanc and Lemon Honey

Lord have mercy, are these ever good. The tart yet rich fresh cheese entwines with fudgy goodness in each bite of brownie.

Recipe: Chocolate-Fromage Blanc Brownies

Cheese artisan Kurt Beecher Dammeier (near left) of Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, in Seattle, shares his thoughts on wonderful fast ways to use this creamy, tangy fresh cheese.

More: A taste of local cheese from Pike Place Market