A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [26]
5. Cut into 1-inch squares and serve warm or at room temperature.
PIMIENTO CHEESE
MAKES ABOUT 4 CUPS
“The peanut butter of my childhood,” is how novelist Reynolds Price describes this beloved southern sandwich spread. I remember pimiento cheese sandwiches (or “pimento,” as Southerners often spell it) being on the menu almost every day at the Fred A. Olds Elementary School in West Raleigh, also at Needham Broughton High School where I attended grades eight through twelve. I also recall vats of freshly made pimiento cheese at one mom-and-pop grocery, which could be scooped out by the pint or quart. Today, most southern supermarkets sell little tubs of pimiento cheese, locally (or at least regionally) made. Some of them are quite acceptable but none is as good as homemade. All the years that I lived in New York City, I never encountered pimiento cheese outside my own apartment. I made it often using this, my favorite recipe. And not just for sandwiches, either. Sometimes I’d stuff it into celery as I’d seen my mother’s southern friends do for their sewing circle or book club meetings. I even served it as a dip for crudités, which impressed my New York friends so much they asked for the recipe. As Reynolds Price also says (he, by the way, was a few grades behind me at Needham Broughton High School), “I seldom met a non-Southerner who knew what it [pimiento cheese] was, though they take to it on contact.” Tip: The fastest way to grate an onion is on a Microplane grater.
1 pound very sharp, bright orange Cheddar cheese, coarsely shredded
¾ cup firmly packed mayonnaise-style salad dressing (or, for a little spicier pimiento cheese, ¾ cup mayonnaise-relish sandwich spread or a half-and-half mix of the two)
Three 2-ounce jars diced pimientos, well drained (reserve liquid)
2 tablespoons finely grated yellow onion (see Tip above)
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons reserved pimiento liquid (about)
1½ tablespoons milk or half-and-half
1 tablespoon prepared spicy brown mustard
½ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1. Place all ingredients in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat at moderate speed for about 30 seconds or just until well blended. The mixture should be lumpy. If the pimiento cheese seems too stiff to spread easily, add a little additional reserved pimiento liquid, tablespoon by tablespoon, until about the consistency of cream-style cottage cheese.
2. Transfer the pimiento cheese to a medium-size nonreactive bowl, press plastic food wrap flat on top, then allow to season in the refrigerator overnight.
3. Use as a sandwich spread or as a stuffing for snow pea pods, bite-size chunks of celery, or hollowed-out cucumber, or serve as a dip for crudités. Stored tightly covered in the coldest part of the refrigerator, pimiento cheese will keep for 5 to 7 days. Note: You can prepare pimiento cheese entirely by food processor if you have a sturdy model with an 11-to 14-cup work bowl. Pulse the cheese through the medium shredding disk, then tip onto a large piece of wax paper. Remove the shredding disk and insert the metal chopping blade. Next drop a 1-inch chunk of yellow onion into the work bowl and chop very fine. Add half the shredded cheese, all the other ingredients, then the remaining shredded cheese. Pulse just until the consistency of cream-style cottage cheese, pausing several times to scrape the work bowl. That’s all there is to it.
HAM SALAD SPREAD
MAKES ABOUT 1½ CUPS
Southerners, I’ve found, are partial to meat salads and sandwich spreads and I count myself among them. I use this particular spread not only to fill sandwiches large and small but also as a stuffing for hollowed-out cherry tomatoes, snow pea pods, and bite-size cucumber “boats.” Note: Because of the saltiness of the ham and the mustard, this recipe is not likely to need additional salt. But taste before serving and adjust as