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Pimento Cheese

As summer finally starts to wind down, I thought I’d share one last summertime recipe. Of course, pimento cheese can be enjoyed year round, but there’s just something about it makes me think of summer.

T is the pimento cheese maker in our house. (Perhaps because it’s such a super easy recipe). (Or perhaps because he loves it so much — we even had pimento cheese at our wedding reception.) There are two local restaurants that first inspired us to make our own. One, pairs it as an appetizer with fried green tomatoes. The other unabashedly uses it as a condiment on one of their delicious flat-top grilled burgers. Oh. My. Goodness. You haven’t had a burger until you’ve had it bathed in pimento cheese and topped it with a couple of slices of bacon.  And let me tell you this: that orange stuff they sell in the deli section at the grocery store and call “pimento cheese” – a travesty.  Make you’re own pimento cheese just once and you’ll never buy that “orange stuff” again.

INGREDIENTS

-1 lb sharp white cheddar*, shredded
-1/4 cup mayonnaise
-1 4oz jar diced pimentos
-1 tsp garlic powder
-1 tsp onion powder
-1/4 tsp paprika
-1/4 tsp cayenne
-1/4 tsp (or so) fresh ground black pepper

(*Did you know that there’s no difference between “white cheddar” and regular “yellow” cheddar cheese?  White cheddar just doesn’t have annatto or turmeric – natural food colourings.)

PREPARATION

Shred whole block of cheese into a bowl. Add jar of pimentos, liquid and all. Mix in mayonnaise and spices. Stir to fully combine all ingredients, et voila!

(In the interest of full disclosure, the pimento cheese in the photo above was made with yellow cheddar. They were out of white cheddar at the grocery store 🙂

Here’s a fun article about p-cheese from NPR (just ignore the recipe at the end *wink*). Pimento Cheese: It’s a Southern Thing

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