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Sunday, August 26, 2012

Delicious Pimento Cheese

I LOVE CHEESE. Of any shape or form. Yes. My name is Jessica and I am addicted to cheese.

I've grown up in the South and still live here so most of the food (besides Chinese food) I love is Southern staples like Memphis-style barbecue, fried chicken, sweet tea, and of course pimento cheese. To tell you the truth, I didn't start eating pimento cheese until this year. Yes. You read that correctly. I used to be terrified of its neon orange appearance and tangy-sharp smell. My mom used to buy small tubs of the stuff from the store and just spread it on bread and eat it like that. It horrified me.

Since the amazing invention of Pinterest, I've noticed a few pimento cheese recipes floating about and decided to try a couple. The first recipe I tried was by Positively Splendid. It was pretty delicious and I made it twice, but the problem I had with it was the large number of ingredients and prep work required. While browsing Craftster one day, I saw MissingWillow's recipe and was amazed at how simple it was. I've made her's twice too and loved it.

I've decided that I like some aspects of both recipes and came to the conclusion to combine the two. And here it is!

Yuuuuum!



Pimento Cheese
Adapated from Positively Splendid and MissingWillow

Ingredients

8 ounces (small block) of extra sharp cheddar
2 ounces of diced pimientos
1/4 cup of Duke's Mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Pinch of white sugar (optional)
Dash of tabasco sauce
Food processor
Sharp knife
Spatula

Directions

Gather your ingredients. The measurements for each ingredient is listed above.


Grab a sharp knife and cube the cheddar.


Find your food processor and put in all the ingredients. Pulse or blend on HIGH for 30 seconds, stop, and scrape down the sides. Blend for a few more seconds until it is a smooth-ish consistency with small lumps. I'm sorry, I don't know what to call it, but you can look at the first photo above or the last photo below.


I got a little excited and forgot to take a photo of the consistency before scooping it out into my container. I was a bit eager to try some with my awesome Triscuits.


And that's it! So fast and simple!

A few notes:

- I recommend using Duke's Mayo for this. I have used regular mayo, but Duke's just seems to make this so much tastier. If you cannot find Duke's in your area, regular mayo is fine. I don't suggest using the low-fat mayo... but I have never tried it myself. (I like my pimento cheese unhealthy and fattening, thank you very much.)
- The pinch of sugar is optional, but I find that it makes the overall taste smoother and tones down on the acidity of the pimentos.
- You don't have to eat this just with crackers! You can put this on toasted bread, dip fresh cut veggies in it, use it as a substitute for mayo and cheese on sandwiches. I've even used this on hamburgers! It adds such a nice flavor!

That's it for now! If you have an comments, suggestions, or questions, just leave them below! Thanks for reading. :)

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