Pimento Cheese

Fancy Cheez-wiz. You can claim you are too sophisticated and you don’t love this, but no one will believe you.

Long story, but through my dear husband we wound up with a refrigerator full of cheese. I’m not kidding, the bounty took up an entire shelf. And all good stuff too. Picnics are fun and all, but there are only so many cheese and cracker plates I can stomach.

I was leafing through my  book of old recipe clippings, from ancient days when I used to take the newspaper everyday. I know, crazy. I came across one for pimento cheese using fancy cheeses. Yes! Of course I didn’t have the same cheeses as in the recipe nor an inclination to obey their prescribed amounts, but it still turned out sinfully great!

Into the food processor went some regular cream cheese (room temp, believe me on this detail) and chunks of various cheeses including Jefferson Cheddar and Touvelle from Rogue Creamery, Cypress Grove Midnight Moon, and Face Rock Creamery Horseradish Cheddar. You can really take liberties on the cheese selection (I sure did). I also added some chopped up roasted red and yellow peppers (I roasted my own, but you could get them out of a jar too), some celery seed and a splash of milk just to aid mixing. Chill it. That’s it. End of story, easy cheesy delight! The next day it was even better. This makes a lot so the next day I stirred some into hot cooked pasta for the most decadent mac and cheese you can imagine. Also guiltily good by the spoonful right outta the fridge. Shhh, don’t tell.

*Rogue Creamery pic