Sunday, July 24, 2011

Pimento Cheese is the new gravy

Pimento cheese and crackers by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



As we approach the real dog days of summer, I can confess that it's been so long since I've really cooked! We eat so simply in the summer; I've come to the conclusion that my perfect summer meal is homemade pimento cheese on crackers; crispy, sweet watermelon slices, and iced tea. I could eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner (and another confession: I have).

Have you seen all the buzz about pimento cheese (or, as it's known in my house, minner cheese)?  Wanda at The Teacher Cooks blog features a minner cheese biscuits recipe that I can't wait to try. There's even a tweet-bot on @pimentocheese, professing a love of the cheese spread all through the Twitter-verse. I never had homemade pimento cheese until I married; my family knew only the occasional plastic container of gloppy fluorescent orange spread. I had to ask my mother-in-law to make minner, and naturally, it's the easiest thing in the world: coarsely shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, diced pimentos, mayonnaise, and a pinch of salt (depending on the sodium in the mayo and cheese, you may leave this out).

Pimento Cheese


8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese

1 cup mayonnaise, approximately, (I've never bothered to measure)

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons chopped pimentos

1. Shred Cheddar cheese on the coarse side of a hand grater or in a food processor.

2. In a bowl, stir together cheese and enough mayonnaise to bind. Add salt and pimentos. Serve with crackers or on squishy white bread.

5 comments:

Kathleen said...

Love Love Love pimento cheese!!!

Anonymous said...

Lucy,

Have you ever heard of a pimiento cheese recipe that uses Pet milk? My FIL says his mother used to make it that way, but he's never been able to duplicate it.

Xoxo,

Heather

Paul Hinrichs said...

If you miss that fluorescent orange, add annatto!

Lucy@acookandherbooks said...

Heather, I've not heard of the Pet Milk variation. Sounds intriguing. Guess it's all in what you grew up with.

The Teacher Cooks said...

You know that I love pimento cheese. I grew up with it. Thanks for the link!