I like it on salad. I love just putting arugula on plate, add some pine nuts, a few grape tomatoes, some shaved Parmesan, then top with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. Yum, a great lunch.

i fine Parmesan is delicious but has got so expensive.

You can freeze it, or grate it and freeze it. Of course, keep the rind for soups and sauces.

I just took a couple of small blocks of parm out of the freezer. ;) Yes, you can freeze it. Cheese is mostly fat and fat freezes very well. Remove the current wrapper. Make sure the cheese is clean and dry and if you don't have a vacuum sealer, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap with no air, then put it in a freezer bag or wrap with freezer paper, again, squeezing out as much air as you can.

Ways to use? If you have a food processor with a rasp grater (or don't mind using the rasp on a box grater on such a hard cheese), grate it fine. An awesome farm style breakfast, or tea time treat, is crusty Italian bread with a thin spread of sweet butter and sprinkled all over with parmesan. You can go through a lot fast that way, but it's oh, so good!

Sliced parm as the cheese on cheese toast or grilled cheese (open faced) is delicious.

Save the superhard/dry rind and put hunks in soup to add salt and a lot of flavor.

If you're making a lasagna, top with mozzarella then a generous sprinkling of parm. Shaved parm (use a cheese plane or wire to get very thin slices, then cut in strips) on pasta aglio e olio is amazing.

Do you really have enough to bother freezing? It'll keep awhile in the fridge if you're careful to keep it clean and dry (no mold spores).

I'm another who has successfully frozen home-shredded Parm. But one time, after shredding it, I accidentally placed the grated cheese in my fridge instead of my freezer. As Plllog indicated, it was fine after at least 1-1/2 to 2 months. So I stopped freezing it. Sometimes, just to make sure it stays dry and doesn't pick up moisture from the fridge, I'll stick a paper towel in the storage bag. I don't have a vacuum sealer. What a nice gift and super nice friend!

Recipe ideas:

baked ziti (Recipe here) it doesn't call for much Parmesan but I don't use the provolone and I increase Parmesan to 1/3 cup

chicken parm

fettuccine Alfredo (Recipe here)

cubed parmesan and beans (Recipe here)

baked parmesan mashed potatoes (Recipe here)

garlic parmesan chicken (Recipe here)

roasted parmesan cauliflower (Recipe here)

pesto (there are tons of recipes online like This one and This one)

hope this helps!

Bake a lasagna and you'll use a nice chunk of it.

Come next summer (or earlier!), you will be wanting to use your Parmesan with your freshly grown basil and be making tons of homemade pesto. Then you will be wanting to make one of my favourite Barefoot Contessa recipes: Pasta, Pesto & Peas :-)

I mainly use mine on pizza. I guess I am more careless than some because I have found some mold after several months in the fridge. I therefore cut my cheese into two pieces and freeze one (perhaps more chunks for yours).

My brother brought a big wheel back from somewhere and my SIL would take it out to the band saw to saw off a hunk! The dog sat right underneath and got a nice treat! Vac and freeze! Nancy

Nancy, I love that! I've used a hacksaw on frozen stock, but never the bandsaw on cheese!

It's so good to have it frozen, grated as you don't have to defrost it before using it.

I buy two large wedges at a time because it's a better price. Unopened, it can last a long time in the fridge. As soon as it's opened, I grate it and put into medium sized ziploc bags and freeze. I have a container in the fridge with about a cup or so of grated cheese. I used to freeze small chunks of the cheese and grate when needed but I found it too crumbly.