Summer Sandwiches: the Pimento Papers

I haven’t posted in a while. The kitchen and I have been strangers except to whip together chicken nuggets or lettuce and tomatoes. So, I decided to write about my Dad’s version of Pimento Cheese. This is a simple recipe that lasts as long as you want it to (this rarely means longer than a day or two in our house.) Kristi loves this Pimento Cheese and P-man always comes back for more.

First ingredients will be the cream cheese. I put that one first because it needs to sit and warm up a bit before you throw it in to the processor. All you need is one 8 ounce package. Then you’ll need an 8 ounce package of sharp cheddar (I prefer the already shredded bags) and an 8 ounce package of seriously sharp cheddar (aka extra sharp). After that you will need a little garlic powder in the palm of your hand (a teaspoon?) and 7 ounces of pimentos. To finish it off you will need a cup or so of mayonesa [sic]. You will find that either with the mayonnaise or in the aisle with the Hispanic food.

After you get all of the goodies together you will need to get your food processor out and do the hard work. If you were unable to find pre-shredded cheddar you will need to have the grating blade out and shred it up. Don’t worry about the little pills and left over pieces, they will be taken care of when you put everything together. Now, with the shredding done put in the chopping/mixing blade. Get the cream cheese and put it in with the cheddar and pulse it around a little. Plop a scoop of mayonesa in the mixer and pulse again. Add the garlic powder and a half of the pimentos (and all of the juice). Dad reserves half the pimentos so there will be chunks of pimento in the end product. Run the mixer and get the texture you want (add a little more mayonesa if the spread needs to loosen up). Now throw in the rest of the pimentos and give it a good pulse to mix ‘em up good and you are done.

Get a good spoonful to tide you over until you can get the sandwich made. Now use the Pimento Cheese however you wish; on a sandwich, with celery, in a spoon.