Friday, March 27, 2020

Pimento Cheese

Ingredients: 
5 large Red Peppers.
1 cup Stuffed Green Olives, finely chopped
1 ¼ pounds Ny Or Vermont White Cheddar Cheese, grated
¼ cup Parmesan Cheese, grated ⅛ -
¼ cups Mayonnaise
1 tbsp Fresh Parsley, chopped
½ tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
dash Cayenne Pepper

Directions: 

Roast red peppers in oven. You broil the peppers until all sides are charred black and blistered and then 'sweat' the peppers in a plastic bag or wrap the foil of the baking sheet you roasted them on over them. This will help you peel them. Peel off the skins, remove the cores and seeds. Keep the flesh and retain any moisture on the cutting board, hand chop into small pieces and add to bowl.

It is important to not use peppers that are from a jar, as that will substantially change the flavor and consistency of the cheese.

You can manage with 4 peppers, or use more if you have them. Walmart or BJ's can often be a source for best prices here.

I use a food processor for the remaining items: Grate the white cheddar. My preference is the 3 year NY White cheddar from Costco. Good cheese makes good pimento cheese. Don't skimp here. Stores like BJ's or Costco are honestly going to give you the best price on the cheese. For the parm, you can use pre-grated, or use a block and grate, this just adds some 'bite'. Add all this to the bowl with your peppers.

Add the olives, mince or use the chopping blade on your food processor. You can do the parsley at the same time. (If you forget the parsley it is not the end of the world.)

Mix in the mayonnaise. This is not a heavy mayo cheese.

Pepper and cayenne pepper are to taste.

I mix in the bowl by 'cutting' with a hard side scraper, this cuts the strips of grated cheese from the food processor into smaller pieces as a blend.

If you make the cheese a few days ahead, it actually gets better over a few days and will keep for a while. Ideally make 2-3 days ahead

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