What We Eat When We Eat Alone - Deborah Madison [78]
“And your food is inedible,” I thought to myself. I was unable to get down even a mouthful without choking on all those chiles. Every pain-laden bite produced tears.
At a certain point it was clear that we could no longer feed each other. And then, we were no longer a couple, but two single people out in the world once more. In our new lives we were each cooking solo meals, eventually planning a menu or two that might seduce another to join our worlds, and eventually, that happened. Best, we became good friends again. Today we cook and eat together every so often, but when we do, we thoroughly enjoy what have quite clearly become over time, our true culinary differences. Although living in New Mexico has toughened my tolerance for the burn of chiles, my food is still subtle and he still throws chiles on everything. I sputter and cough, and we laugh through it all.
Pimento Cheese
Enough for four big panini
“Mother would take blocks of American cheese, jars of Miracle Whip, and cans of pimentos, sit under the post oaks and grind them together with a clamp-on-the-table meat grinder.” That’s how pimento cheese was made in Patrick’s family.
This version started out pretty much the way Patrick’s mother’s did, with pimentos and mayonnaise but Cheddar and Jack rather than American cheese. Then, feeling the pimentos were not as tasty as they once might have been, we switched to thick, jarred Spanish peppers and bolstered the mix with smoked paprika, along with plenty of pepper and a little mustard. The resulting cheese, in our assessment, can be addicting, whether on a cracker or in a sandwich.
8 OUNCES AGED CHEDDAR CHEESE, YELLOW, OR WHITE AND YELLOW MIXED
1⁄3 CUP DICED SPANISH PEPPERS OR 1 (4-OUNCE) JAR OF PIMENTOS
2 TABLESPOONS MAYONNAISE, MORE OR LESS
2 TEASPOONS MUSTARD
1 TEASPOON SWEET OR HOT SMOKED PAPRIKA
FRESHLY GROUND PEPPER—LOTS
1 SLICED SCALLION
Grate the cheese on the coarse holes of a grater or run it through a meat grinder if you still have one. Stir in the peppers, mayonnaise, mustard, and paprika, tasting and adjusting as you go. Finally season with plenty of freshly ground pepper and add the scallion.
Pimento Cheese Panino
“Really it’s just a grilled cheese sandwich. Warm grilled sandwiches taste so much better than cold cheese on bread.” That’s Patrick’s assessment of this delicious panino.
PIMENTO CHEESE
TWO LONG SLICES OF BREAD, SUCH AS SOURDOUGH OR COUNTRY FRENCH BREAD
OLIVE OIL OR BUTTER
Sandwich the cheese between two slices of bread. Brush with olive oil, then grill in a panini maker until the cheese is melted and soft. Slice diagonally into long fingers, put on a plate, and serve as an appetizer for two or lunch for one.
How to Make Pimento Cheese
Pimento cheese did not exist in my Yankee family, so at a recent Mardi Gras party full of Southerners, I asked each of them, “How do you make pimento cheese?”
Not surprisingly there were as many answers as people asked. Variations abounded on the cheese/pimento/mayonnaise theme: Yellow Cheddar, white Cheddar, both, or American cheese. Pimentos out of a jar or raw bell peppers. Onions, scallions, or no alliums at all. Mustard in addition to mayonnaise—or not. In place of mayonnaise, one woman used cream cheese thinned with milk. Another added diced jalapeños, perhaps a nod to her new home in the Southwest.
Scallops with Slivered Asparagus and Lemony Wine Sauce
Once the asparagus are peeled and sliced, this seductive little entrée comes together in just a few minutes. You’ll be cooking the asparagus in one pot and the scallops in a pan, then making a pan sauce and bringing them together, but it’s not so complicated to do this. It’s even less so if one person does the asparagus, the other the scallops. Just talk to each other to get the timing right.
Three golden-crusted sea scallops per person should be enough—they’re rich and filling.
12 OUNCES ASPARAGUS