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.
That is a tasty looking cheese dip!
I never had pimento cheese as anything other than a sandwich! Well, yes on the celery. But mom made sandwiches with it! Texas, my Texas!
Pimiento cheese has never been all that popular in Canada. I mean we see constant references to it on FN and other American programmes and know it is a staple, but it never has caught on here.
Hard to find actual pimiento at some stores even unless they're stuffed into an olive.
I'll make this though. Probably eat the whole thing myself.
I'll fire off one of Uncle Richard's sweet potato pies too, since you've reminded me it's US Thanksgiving.
Have a good holiday.
Tasty Eats at Home–This is like queso unplugged.
Melanie–I hope it compares favorably in your opinion to Central Market's excellent pimento cheese!
Transplanted Texan–I think a Corona and lime go dandy with this cheese!
Iamahoneybee–Good luck finding it in Boston–Whole Foods might have it but it tends to be more prevalent in the South.
Micki–I keep the seeds because I'm lazy; you may choose to discard them. And yes, for this I cut the peppers in tiny pieces. And would you believe I once had in Austin of all places died blue corn chips? There's no need for that when blue corn is readily available in the Southwest!
Anon–Thanks!
Kym–Plain stuff is pretty awesome as well. I'm an equal-opportunity pimento cheese eater!
Jessica–I'll try to come!
MitMoi–Oh, nice! I love that you add chipotle! And if the church ladies love it you know that it's a hit!
Anon–I love pimento cheese sandwiches! Used to eat them often myself when I was young.
Tommy–Yep, for some reason it's never made much of an impact above the Mason-Dixon line, which is silly since it's so delicious and not too spicy. And I'll be sure and tell Uncle Richard tomorrow that his pie has a fan in Toronto!
Kevin–Thank you! I know you'd love it!