How To Make Your Own Pimento Cheese Spread From Southern Living Magazine

*** Want to learn how to make something you always buy prepared - but with lots of preservatives? It's so easy a Geico Caveman could do it!





From Denny: Do you ever get curious about making your own sandwich fillings like pimento cheese spread? Ever wondered just how your local grocery deli makes theirs? Get tired of navigating all those unpronounceable chemical names on the labels and want something better for your family?

Here in Louisiana we do have more than grocery store chains with big food companies making prepackaged foods. There are still those one-store Mom and Pop groceries that have been around for decades with a huge rockin' 'n' rollin' business bursting in the doors constantly.

Southern Living Magazine wrote up an easy step-by-step primer in their May issue on how to prepare your very own pimento cheese. Of course, this being Louisiana where we love our food to burst with flavor we like to add Tobasco or another brand of hot sauce to this recipe - like Louisiana Hot Sauce which is less vinegary and a bit milder. Hot sauce pairs wonderfully with any cheese dish.

When your weekend is fast-paced or you just want to opt out from a lot of cooking this is an easy recipe to whip up in large batches to keep everyone happy. All they have to do is snack on it with crackers, piled high on celery sticks or slather it on toast for a quick meal.

Note: Celery, like cucumber is a natural coolant for the body to help you in the summer heat.



Our Favorite Pimiento Cheese

From: May 2010 issue of Southern Living magazine

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup high-quality mayonnaise, such as Hellmann’s or Duke’s (Southern Living’s recipe called for 1-1/2 cups, but Karyn found that 1 cup was enough.)

1 (4-oz.) jar diced pimiento, drained

(Note from Denny: Or you can scorch until blackened your own ripe red bell peppers over an open flame, peel off the skin, and instant pimento without the jar. Easy to do when red bell peppers are overflowing in the markets during July and August.)

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. finely grated onion

1/4 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne)

8 ozs. coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese

8 ozs. finely shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

4 to 5 dashes of Tabasco sauce


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 1 cup chopped pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through. Stirring helps to ensure even browning. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, drained pimiento, Worcestershire sauce, grated onion and ground red pepper.

Mix the grated and shredded Cheddar into the mayonnaise mixture. Southern Living’s recipe calls for hand shredding and grating the cheese, but Karyn used pre-shredded/grated cheeses. Season with Tabasco pepper sauce to taste.

4. Stir in the cooled roasted pecans and combine until blended. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.




*** Pimento cheese grilled sandwich by biskuit @ flickr


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New Orleans Food: G.Gs Stuffed Crab

*** Check out a time honored favorite recipe in New Orleans!




Another version of stuffed crab since no photo was provided of the dish: A crab stuffed with attitude and reported to be delicious! - Thai Chili Crab Photo by Aerokev @ flickr in Australia


From Denny: People are always asking the food editors of their local Louisiana newspapers for this recipe. This one was given to the New Orleans Times-Picayune back in 1998. New Orleans native, Meryl Andry, said she based this recipe on her great-grandmother's technique. How's that for a time-honored tradition?

Andry tells us what we want to hear about convenience too: this dish freezes well. Instead of the bother of placing the stuffing into the crab shells she serves it mounded on lengthwise cut rectangles of French bread. Hint: To hold the stuffing well, tear out some of the inside of the bread slices to make a hollow.


G.G.'s Stuffed Crab


From: Meryl Andry

Makes: 6 to 8 servings



Ingredients:

1 24- by 3- by 2-inch loaf of day-old French bread

1 1/2 to 2 cups milk

2 sticks butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

4 green onions, finely chopped

8 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley

2 tablespoons dry white wine

1 pound lump crab meat, picked over

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning, to taste

Crystal hot sauce (or one to your personal taste)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1 to 2 cups Italian-style, very fine, dry bread crumbs

1 large lemon, sliced into 18 very thin rounds, seeded

Ground sweet paprika, for garnish



Directions:

Slice the bread in half lengthwise. Carefully scoop out the inside bread, leaving a shell of crust about a quarter of an inch thick. Place scooped-out bread in a large mixing bowl and add enough milk to moisten all bread bits; set aside. Cut the shell of crust into 2 1/2-inch lengths to form 18 rectangles, each about 3 inches wide; place rectangles, crust down, on an ungreased baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large heavy skillet, melt 1 stick butter with olive oil over medium-high heat. Add yellow and green onions, garlic and parsley, then wine. Saute until yellow onions are translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium and mix in crab meat, basil and oregano, stirring gently to keep lumps of crab intact. Season to taste with salt, pepper, seasoning mix and hot sauce. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir lemon juice into mixture. Drain bread-milk mixture in a strainer or colander and squeeze bread dry. Add this bread and Parmesan to the skillet, mixing well. Gradually add enough Italian-style bread crumbs to mixture to make it the consistency of somewhat sticky dough; this probably will require 1 to 2 cups of bread crumbs. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Mound crab mixture evenly over the bread rectangles, using all of the crab mixture.

Slice the remaining stick of butter into 18 pats. Top each rectangle with a butter pat, then a lemon round, then a light sprinkle of paprika. Bake until rectangles start to brown, about 20 minutes.



*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!