Cheese, baby, cheese.

There are some things in life that you just develop an unhealthy addiction for - caffeine, sugar, Facebook, unrequited crushes - and there's just nothing you can do about it. No matter how hard you try, you can't stop. It's a drug seeping through you, filling your veins, infiltrating every inch of you until you're paralysed, immobile in its grasp. That's essentially how I feel about cheese. I'm aware of its high fat content (thanks Google) and I know how big my portions should be, but my awareness of those two facts somehow diminishes in the looming shadow of two infinitely more important facts:

(a) I have more cheese (200g, in fact); and
(b) the cheese tastes so damn good.

So, as usual, in the constant struggle between my tastebuds and my conscience, the former defeats the latter, and I add more cheese. As part of my acceptance of my growing problem, I have included photos and recipes from my latest cheesy exploits for fellow addicts out there. Enjoy!

Balsamic-glazed salmon with mushroom and pea risotto. The easiest dish in the world! Stir-fry garlic and onions until fragrant and slightly translucent; add mushrooms until they gain colour; add cooked rice, peas and a cube of chicken stock, then when everything is warm and slightly golden, add grated cheddar cheese to the pan at the very end, and mix through the rice until slightly melted. Et voilà - the cheesy, salty richness of risotto without the pain of stirring stock gradually into a pot for hours on end. The balsamic on the salmon cuts through the creamy cheesiness, leaving a nice tang on your tastebuds.

Spaghetti cake. I found this recipe on Jamie Oliver's website (here) and it was super simple to make. Simply mix sun-dried tomatoes, chopped baby spinach, minced garlic, grated cheddar, goat's cheese and cooked spaghetti into cream and eggs, pour the entire gloopy mess into a greased cake tin and watch it crispen to perfection. The one thing I would change about the recipe, however, is reduce the amount of cream; the recipe called for 600mL, but I found this excessive. Otherwise, though, a lovely dish!

Until next time.