Have you ever had pimento cheese? An important caveat: have you ever had home-made pimento cheese? That neon colored sludge from the supermarket absolutely doesn’t count–that’s the stuff that gives pimento cheese a bad name. That junk forces anyone who doesn’t live in the south to think pimento cheese is somehow vile stuff. The real deal is not even close. Its nothing short of incredible really. Its a mix of sweet, sour, tart, rich, creamy cheeseiness.
Pimento cheese is actually very simple to make and uses a mix of other cheeses as a base (so don’t worry, you don’t have to make cheese from scratch for this). The end result is a cheese that is easily used as a dip or a spread. I like to fill omelettes with it and to use it as a topping on both burgers and sandwiches. Other common uses are on crackers and as the filling for grilled cheese sandwiches. Its works well in spreadable form
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Posted by mike on August 22nd, 2010 in Snacks
This post is a little later than I’d like it to be seeing how strawberry season has come and gone by me. My love of strawberries is no secret. When they’re at their peak, I’ve packed away several pounds (maybe four or five? Seriously. I love strawberries) a week just for snacking (forget the baking). So this is one of those tasty desserts you can go to when you need a break from inhaling strawberries by the pound: a berry scented bundt cake topped with a rich, strawberry cream cheese frosting.
This was delicious and very strawberry-ish. I would be happy just eating the frosting (and shamelessly licked the bowl clean. Very clean). My only disappointment was that the cake was a little denser than I would have liked–I’d consider lessening the amount of strawberry puree (e.g. by half a cup) in the cake so that it might rise more and take on a lighter texture. As is, the texture is more
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Posted by mike on May 31st, 2010 in Cake, Dessert, Fruit
I’m a little late on posting this recipe since green garlic season may have already come and gone (some of you might still find it), but that brings us right over into garlic scape season, so its an easy substitution to make! If all of that flew over your head, you’re missing out on something great and need to try it as soon as possible (more on that in a moment). So what did I do with this bit of tasty spring produce? I made a simple green garlic pesto to highlight green garlic as the star of the show in this pasta dish.
If you’ve never heard of green garlic before (or scapes, which are kind of similar but are in fact, different), they’re actually pretty interesting. Unfortunately, you probably won’t find them at your grocery store, but you should have better luck at a farmer’s market. Simply put, green garlic is garlic before it has fully matured into a
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Posted by mike on May 27th, 2010 in Chicken, Italian, Main course, Mediterranean, Pasta
After the doldrums of winter, each new week of spring is like a food reawakening for me. In the past few weeks, a number of my favorites have started popping up again at the farmer’s market, and as I always do, I tend to overindulge as if these vegetables won’t make a reappearance at the same time again next year. Today’s meal focuses on one such vegetable: asparagus.
Risotto has become something of a go-to meal for me (and if you’re afraid of making it, don’t be–trust me, its easy. Try this. Now). Its fairly easy to make and provides a rich, makes-you-feel-so-good canvas to work with, no matter what the goal. I thought creamy, cheesy goodness was the perfect place to highlight asparagus.
The risotto packs a double punch of asparagus: a lightly boiled asparagus puree is mixed into the rice (also adding a nice green tint) and the tender tips are steamed by the rice in the final moments of cooking,
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Posted by mike on May 2nd, 2010 in Main course, Mediterranean
This is that time of year where I get antsy about food. Its spring-time–the birds are chirping, the sun is out, and it feels like summer is just around the corner. So where’s the spring-time produce?! I know its too soon for the kinds of things I’m craving, and this is exactly why its always a good idea to preserve a bit of the season–to abate such cravings until nature has a chance to catch up. So today’s dessert: a sweet, creamy, cardamom perfumed cheesecake, topped with cardamom-scented peach preserves.
I’ll be honest: I’d forgotten about these peach preserves. They were buried in the back of my pantry, but when I found them, I needed to finally dig in (peach season is one of the things I’m anxiously awaiting, after all). They were simple to make (many months ago), and I remember from sampling a bit how wonderful they tasted–sweet, peaches at their peak, finished with that je ne sais quoi you
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Posted by mike on April 11th, 2010 in Cake, Dessert, Fruit
Pardon the brief diversion from the usual format, but since I have a bully pulpit…plus, its ultimately food related, so this isn’t too tangential.
So now that I live in North Carolina, a state known for agriculture (long days, long growing season, large variety of things that can be grown here, etc), I thought it was about time that I get serious about that vegetable garden I’ve been talking about for a few years now. I’ve made some pitiful attempts in the past (a patio with about 20 different potted plants all crammed next to one another in pots that were way too small), but I thought I’d try to do things right this year. Its still early, but we shall see–I have high hopes for eating something from my backyard this year…hopefully its one of the plants I put in the ground and not a rabbit trying to get to them before I do.
Early in March, I cleared a 10×10 patch of
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Posted by mike on April 4th, 2010 in Uncategorized
