danapop

Years ago, while at my grandparent’s lakehouse, my uncle made his famous pimento cheese. My husband had one taste and became obsessed with the spread ever since. If you’re not familiar, pimento cheese is what happens if a simple mayonnaise-based dip and block of cheddar cheese were to have a baby. Said baby would then be showered in flecks of smoky pimentos and perhaps given the gift of garlic, pepper, and perhaps (like all good Southern cooks) even a secret ingredient or two.

Low calorie, it is not … this is a decadent snack I generally reserve for company so I can spread the cheese love and not be sneaking heaps of it on crackers at 4 a.m. straight out of the fridge. Or making it into toasted cheese sandwiches topped with bacon and arugula. Hurts so good. I’ve tried to make it lower in fat and calories and am met with a sub par taste and reaction. Greek yogurt is too tart and lower-fat cheeses don’t hold up. The best mix I know is a hybrid of several recipes with the base being from Bella Cucina, a specialty food store I used to work at in Atlanta. The Bella version subs the traditional pimentos for roasted red pepper from its line of jarred goods, which is a great addition. Though, the staple at our house is the tried and true traditional pimento taking center stage; feel free to use this as a base and add other ingredients, like my uncle’s secret weapon of green olives, or my husband’s favorite of jalapenos.

Pimento Cheese
• 2 pounds of cheese (I shred 1 pound extra sharp cheddar, 1 pound white cheddar, but any mix of your favorite hard cheese is fine—shred with a medium size-blade)
• 2 tablespoons of Durkee Famous Sauce (this is a not-so-secret ingredient and something I’d never heard of until I moved to Georgia, it’s essentially a mustard-meets-mayo blend and Chowhound has a whole post about it)
• 1 cup mayonnaise (Duke’s light works well)
• 3 tablespoons of jarred pimentos (sometimes I use more, sometimes less depending on taste)
• 2 garlic cloves minced (you want this minced very small, even better to send through a microplane)
• 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika a.k.a. pimentón (another not-so-secret ingredient, do not use regular paprika … you need the smokiness of the real deal Spanish powder)
• ¼ teaspoon of salt (optional)
• ¼ teaspoon of cracked black pepper (optional)

Mix in bowl and put in refrigerator for a couple of hours. See if flavors melded and if more mayonnaise needs to be added for a creamier texture, adjust seasoning accordingly. Best served at room temperature.

In 2003, the July prior to my wedding that October, I visited one of my best friends in her hometown of Dublin, Ireland. Every March, with shamrock overloaded visuals and overindulgent drinking stereotypes it makes me think of that amazing trip, and also of that part of the globe. It really is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the States. The trek is easier than you think and for us in Atlanta it’s only about an hour longer than flying to San Francisco or Seattle … worth it.

Here are a few of my photos (so old they had to be scanned) from that magical isle, though they don’t do the trip justice. The Dublin photos are pretty gloomy, as they were shot in black and white, and it was pouring mostly. To balance them out, I’ve also included a few of Edinburgh, Scotland since that was the part of the trip with glorious sunny pictures to prove it.