Pimento Cheese from The Chefs Collaborative

Pimento cheese is a southern staple, but you can find it outside the south in supermarkets sold in tubs. It's the perfect spread for crackers, or on top of a burger or ... well, wherever you put cheese.

If you're not familiar with pimento cheese, it's not really a type of cheese. It's a mixture; a spread. Not smooth, but spreadable, and not thick as a cheese ball. And it has flecks of bright red pimento (or roasted red peppers) for color and flavor.

In the book The Chefs Collaborative Cookbook, pimento cheese is used in a recipe for gougères. While I've made gougères before in both sweet and savory versions, I was more interested in the pimento cheese all on its own. Maybe later I'll revisit the gougères.

The book is an interesting collection. Subtitled "Local, sustainable, delicious recipes from America's great chefs," it's a somewhat eclectic collection of recipes, since they're contributed by so many different chefs.

The Chefs Collaborative got its beginning back in 1993 when a group of chefs got together to talk about environmental issues surrounding food production, and that organization still exists today - thus the focus on sustainable foods in this book.

Environmental issues aside, my focus is on flavor, and the pimento cheese delivered on that, with strong cheese flavor, a sweet-tartness from the pickles, and some heat from the hot stuff. Since I planned on using the cheese as cheese and not part of a recipe that would mute the flavor, I actually cut back on the spiciness. I like heat, but I didn't want that to overwhelm the cheese.

Of course, if you want something with more kick, you can always add more.

I though it was interesting that this was mixed in a stand mixer using the paddle - it broke the cheese up more than if I had mixed by hand, but much less than if I had used a food processor. The cheese had a nice chunky texture, and the cream cheese and mayonnaise added just enough moisture and "stickiness" to bind the cheese into something spreadable.

Pimento Cheese
Adapted from The Chefs Collaborative Cookbook by Chefs Collaborative and Ellen Jackson

1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Gruyère cheese
2 tablespoons cream cheese
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
6 tablespoons finely chopped bread and butter pickles
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (the original recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (the original recipe called for 1 1/2 teaspoons)
7 tablespoons finely chopped roasted red peppers (the original recipe called for pimentos, but roasted red peppers are more available - or you can roast and peel your own)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine the Cheddar, Gruyère, and cream cheese in the bowl of your food processor fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed just to combine. It won't stick together at this point, but the cream cheese will coat the other cheeses.

Add the mayonnaise, pickles and cayenne and continue mixing for a few turns before you add the Tabasco and the red peppers. Season with salt and pepper.

This can be served immediately, but I think it improves when it's had a chance for the flavors to meld a bit. So it's a great make-the-day-before dish for parties.

I received this book from the publisher at no cost to me.

A fresh, healthy, tasty green dip - that isn't guacamole: Fake-amole for St. Patrick's Day!

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, you'll be seeing a lot of green. Maybe you should add this one to your list. A pretty green dip that tastes fresh, earthy, and rich all at the same time. It looks like it might be guacamole, but it's not.

The funny thing is that it tastes just a little like guacamole - the slightly nutty flavor is similar, and the color is almost perfect. If you wanted to switch it up a bit with chopped cilantro, a bit of lime, and a few chopped jalapenos or some salsa, you might actually convince a few people, even though the texture is a more like hummus.

For St. Patrick's Day, guacamole might not fit the menu - but this is endlessly versatile.

This can be used as a spread (omit the water to keep it thicker) or as a dip (add water as needed to get the consistency you're looking for. It's great with crackers, raw vegetables, as a spread on sandwiches, or with pita or tortilla chips.

Meanwhile, this is loaded with vegetables, herbs and fiber. And it can be made well in advance, since the bright green won't fade or go brown - so you can make it well in advance for parties. Just keep it refrigerated until needed.

The Mazola® Corn Oil in this particular recipe provides the tiny bit of fat needed to help carry the flavor and add richness, and it doesn't add any assertive flavors - the rest of the ingredients really shine. While I like flavorful oils for some applications, sometimes the oil needs to step back a few paces and just be ... well, oil.

While preparing this recipe, I also learned that a recent research study found that corn oil helps lower cholesterol more than extra virgin olive oil. You can learn more about the study at Mazola.com.

Pea and Chickpea Dip, AKA Fake-amole

1 cup frozen peas
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh parsley
A few leaves fresh thyme (optional)
2 tablespoons Mazola Corn Oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1-2 tablespoons water (optional; as needed)

Combine all the ingredients in your food processor or blender. To be honest, I started with my blender, then moved to my food processor, since I wasn't getting quite the smooth result I was looking for - but blenders differ. Yours might do just fine.

Blend until the mixture is as smooth as possible, scraping down the sides of the container as needed. If you start with completely frozen peas, it might take a little longer to blend, but it's fine to use them frozen or thawed. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

If the mixture is too thick for your purposes, add water, a tablespoon at a time, until you reach the consistency you're looking for.

Serve with crackers, chips, or vegetables. Or use as a sandwich spread.

Visit Mazola.com for more information about the benefits of corn oil and for more recipe ideas. This post is sponsored by Mazola.

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

When I heard that Healthy Solutions Spice Blends was having a recipe contest, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I like entering contests. I makes me think of cooking things I might not think about otherwise.

Also, I've used the Healthy Solutions blends before, so I knew what I was getting myself into.

The Bold Beef Blend is my favorite so far - I've used it several times for beef roasts and well as in sous vide recipes, like this one for a sous vide beef rib roast.

My impression of the Bold Beef Rub was that it made the beef taste beefier, so I thought it might work to add beefy flavor to something that had no beef at all. Like a vegetarian French onion soup.

While you can make French onion soup with something other than beef stock, it's the flavor I like the best. So that's why it was my target.

I got the result I was looking for. The combination of the beef rub, tomato paste and red wine, along with the onions, gives this soup an umami-rich flavor that will convince you that you're eating a beef-based soup.

While I'm not suggesting that you try to fool anyone into thinking you're serving beef soup, this would be great if you've got vegetarians in the house, or for meatless meals, like for lent.

Or if you don't have any stock on hand and you've got a craving for soup.

For the onions, you can use whatever type you have on hand - or a combination of onions. I used yellow, red and sweet onions - one of each of the large yellow and sweet onions, and two smaller red onions.

Because of the tomato paste in this soup, it's got a slight red cast to it, but it doesn't taste like tomatoes - the paste just adds some richness.

Gruyere is a good cheese for this, but you can use and American-made Swiss cheese, or even provelone or mozzarella, as long as it's a cheese that melts well.

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

For the soup:
4 tablespoons butter
3 large onions (or the equivalent of smaller ones)
1 tablespoon Healthy Solutions Bold Beef Rub
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup red wine (or red cooking wine)
1 quart water
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

For serving:
Toasted baguette slices or toast, to fit mug or bowl
Gruyere or similar cheese

Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over low heat - a Dutch oven is good, but a sturdy saucepan is fine, too.

Peel the onions and cut into quarters through the poles to make four wedges, then slice into 1/4-inch slices. If the onions are very very large, you can cut them into eight wedges so your slices are smaller - you want them to fit neatly on a spoon and not be long, spaghetti-like strands.

Add the onion to the pot along with the Bold Beef Rub. Increase the heat to medium.

Cook, stirring as needed, until the onions are tender, about 10 minutes. If they start getting crisp, turn the heat down.

Add the tomato paste, red wine, and water. Cook, stirring once in a while, for at least 30 minutes. Longer is fine.

As the liquid evaporates, you'll end up with a soup that's fairly thick with onions. If you want a brothier soup, add more water, as desired.

Add several grinds of black pepper.

Taste for seasoning and add salt, if needed. If you used a cooking wine, you will need less salt than of you used a drinkable wine.

To serve, ladle the soup into oven-proof ramekins. Top with the baguette slices or toast, and top with cheese. Place under the broiler until the cheese melts.

But what if you don't have oven-proof ramekins?

You can put the cheese on the baguettes and melt the cheese in the microwave, or place the baguette slices on a baking sheet, top with cheese, and place in the oven to melt the cheese.

When you have properly melted cheese, float the baguette slices on top of the soup.

Serve immediately - it's best when the cheese is still soft.

I received a package of Healthy Solutions Bold Beef Rub to facilitate my entry in the contest. There was no other compensation ... unless I win. We'll see about that.