Tex-Mex pimento cheese
I’m heading home in a couple of days, and since I won’t arrive to the farm until late Thursday morning, I’ve been trying to figure out dishes I can contribute to the Thanksgiving feast that won’t take a lot of time and effort. As I was going through my list of recipes, I came across that old favorite—pimento cheese.
Truth be told, I hadn’t eaten any since my grandfather’s funeral back in 2008. A woman that goes to my grandparent’s church had read my earlier blog post where I remarked that pimento cheese makes for fine funeral food. And so she made my recipe and brought it to the farm.
It was a hit—so much of a hit that my uncle Richard and I got in a huge fight over who would get to eat the last couple of spoonfuls. (Now lest you think my family and I don’t get along—we were all a bit stressed because of the funeral and were behaving like five year olds. This is not to say, however, that it wasn’t indeed a fine batch of pimento cheese.) That day was over a year ago, and that’s just too long to go without eating pimento cheese. So I decided to whip up a batch.
Pimento cheese is simple, really. At its most basic it’s just shredded cheddar cheese, some mayonnaise and chopped pimentos. But when I opened my refrigerator, I realized that I didn’t have any pimentos on hand. So I improvised.
I enjoy the tangy sweetness of the little red pimentos, but I also like the splash of color the peppers give to the spread. I had some Ro-Tel tomatoes on hand, so I threw them into my bowl. And to keep with the Tex-Mex theme, I decided to mix some lime juice, cilantro and cumin into my mayonnaise and tossed in a chopped Serrano chile as well.
There are many ways to eat pimento cheese, but my favorite way has always been simply as a dip. And the Tex-Mex profile of this spread definitely makes it perfect for tortilla chips. But it would also be terrific on a biscuit, folded into an omelet, or even scooped on top of a burger.
What do you call pimento cheese when it doesn’t have pimentos? Pepper cheese? Tomato cheese? Pimento-not cheese? Tex-Mex cheese? I have no idea, but no matter what you call this pimento cheese, it’s still pretty darn good.
Tex-Mex pimento cheese
Ingredients
- 1 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 can of Ro-Tel, drained
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 Serrano chiles, seeded and finely diced
- Salt, black pepper and cayenne to taste
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together and chill for a few hours.
I like this twist on pimento cheese! Sounds great as a dip, and I'd take a sandwich with it too.
Jeff–Oh, yes! I'm big on pimento cheese in my celery as well.
Gabriela–It's perfect for the big game!
Lisa–I used to live off of pimento cheese sandwiches when I was a kid. Guess what's for dinner?
I love pimento cheese! I moved back to my parents' house as a thin thing, took a job at night, came home and ate my mom's pimento cheese on Triscuits and LEFT their house a nice, round thing. HA.
We cook our mayo with vinegar and salt and add it to the cheese, which of course should be sharp, sharp, sharp! (In N.C., that is.)
Abby–What a fantastic idea to add vinegar to your mayo–I bet that adds some tang. And I hear you about how our favorite foods affect our waistlines. Sigh, the things we do for love!
This actually sounds better to me than pimiento cheese, because *gasp* I don't really like pimiento cheese! I would so dig into a bowl of this, however!