Cheddar may be the most popular cheese in the UK, but if you look in your fridge right now, it’s more than likely there’s a block of parmesan lurking in the door.

But rather than just sprinkling the cheese on top of our favourite pasta dishes, it’s time we embraced using it as an ingredient in its own right. Cheesy, sharp and salty, parmesan has a distinctive nutty taste that can add extra savoury depth to all manners of dishes – from the usual pastas and risottos to soups, stews and sides dishes.

The Italian Pantry: 3 Theo Randall recipes that make parmesan the star