Pimiento Cheese

As comfort foods go, pimiento cheese is at the top of my list.  There was almost always pimiento cheese in the refrigerator when I was growing up.  I took pimiento cheese sandwiches to school in my lunch box; we ate pimiento cheese sandwiches for picnic lunches when traveling; sandwiches for supper were not uncommon; and, when my mother was in her nineties, her Christmas lunch of choice was a pimiento cheese sandwich.  I would ask my mother what she wanted to eat for Christmas.  Her answer always was, “Let’s don’t cook and have a bunch of old leftovers; let’s have pimiento cheese sandwiches.”  Being totally her daughter, she didn’t have to twist my arm.  Pimiento cheese sandwiches it was!  Now that my mother has passed away, I still want pimiento cheese sandwiches for Christmas.  In reality, that tradition is a lot more entrenched in my mind than turkey and dressing of days past. 

 

My mother’s pimiento cheese consisted of Velveeta cheese, Miracle Whip salad dressing, and pimientos.  At some point, the Velveeta formula must have changed; using only Velveeta resulted in a gooey mess.  We started adding cheddar cheese to the mix somewhere along the line.  Now, I use Velveeta made with 2% milk; Miracle Whip Light; and either cheddar, Colby-Jack, or pepper jack cheese.  Today I measured the Miracle Whip for the first time in recorded history.

Pimiento Cheese

1 lb. Velveeta cheese

8 ounces cheddar, Colby jack, or pepper jack cheese

2 (4 oz.) jars chopped pimientos, well drained

1-1/2 cups Miracle Whip salad dressing

Grate the cheeses.  Add drained pimientos.  Add salad dressing and mix well.  Store in the refrigerator.  Enjoy!

Cornbread Dressing and Gravy



The Finished Product!

1 batch homemade cornbread (10 inch skillet size)

Additional bread, about 2 cups, whatever was in the refrigerator:  part of a baguette, 1 slice wheat sandwich bread, a couple of pieces of anadama bread

5 stalks celery, chopped coarsely

 Bread, Celery, Onions, Mushrooms, and Sage

1 medium onion, chopped finely

4 ounces fresh mushrooms, chopped coarsely

Fresh sage, 2 or 3 tablespoons, snipped

Splash of olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

About 3 cups chicken broth

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; spray 2 quart casserole dish with nonstick pan spray.  Crumble bread into a large bowl, set aside.  Sauté celery, onion, mushrooms, and fresh sage in olive oil.  Add to bread and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.  Add broth until the consistency is moist but not runny.  Taste the dressing to adjust seasonings before adding raw eggs because food safety concerns.  Last, add beaten eggs.  Bake about 45 minutes until dressing is brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean; it should reach an internal temperature of 165°F.  Refrigerate leftovers promptly; reheat leftovers to 165°F.

Gravy:

4 tablespoons butter

½ cup flour

1 cup broth

3 cups milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in saucepan; stir in flour until well blended.  The mixture will be crumbly.  Add broth and milk, and stir constantly over medium heat until thickened.   Season to taste.  This is a variation of basic medium white sauce:  2 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons fat per 1 cup of liquid.  I used only 1 tablespoon fat for 2 tablespoons flour and 1 cup liquid. 





Good Eating!

***

Larger Batch – 2013

12 cups cornbread (some bread machine oatmeal bread included)

8 cups chopped vegetables:

·         8 oz. mushrooms

·         1 large red onion

·         6 stalks celery

½ cup minced fresh sage

2 tablespoons dried sage

3 eggs

4-1/2 cups broth

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Assemble according to above directions.  Bake in greased 16 cup casserole dish at 350°F for approximately 1-1/2 hours or until the mixture reaches 165°F and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

* * *

Dressing (as in turkey and dressing) is one of my favorite foods.  My earliest memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas meals include loving dressing and merely liking the turkey and cranberry sauce.  Every family has their own criteria for what makes a good bowl of dressing, and recipes are passed down from generation to generation.  I was an adult before I knew that not everyone’s dressing was like the kind I grew up with:  cornbread based, no meat, no “weird” ingredients.  There are as many ways to make dressing as there are cooks, with variations related to the kind of bread to use; whether or not to include sausage, giblets, or other meat; what types of vegetables and/or fruit to include; and what types of seasonings to use. 

My mother let me start making dressing as soon as I exhibited an interest, probably when I was in college.  She stood by to give tips, but there was no written recipe.  The dressing I make now has is pretty much like my mother taught me, with a few modifications, such as adding mushrooms, sauteeing the vegetables in olive oil, and using fresh sage.  Stuffing the turkey wasn’t part of our family tradition.  A chicken had to be cooked in advance to get some good broth for the dressing.  The turkey was cooked in an electric roaster, and the carcass was boiled later to get some more broth for the freezer. 

I still love dressing, my own and everyone else’s that can be found at church dinners, family gatherings, etc.  Some dear friends introduced me to the deliciousness of mushrooms in dressing (this might be a weird ingredient).  Adding extra vegetables increases fiber content, and using homemade broth allows me better control of salt and fat.  Giblets are truly weird, and they do not belong in my dressing or gravy.  This is the formula for this year’s too-late-for-Thanksgiving, too-early-for-Christmas dressing.  The cornbread was made with salt; the dressing was salty enough for my taste without adding any additional salt to the mixture.  The broth was from the freezer; it was left from a boiled chicken, and it was defatted before freezing.  Dried sage could be used; it so happened that fresh sage was growing in the yard this year.



Picadillo

I made this dish for years before realizing that it is called picadillo; it was just  hamburger and potato taco filling. It is never made exactly the same way twice, depending on the amount and type of ground beef and potatoes available.   Measuring is not critical to success; it is basically a spicy hash that can be varied to individual taste or availability of ingredients.  I like to cook the potatoes until they are very soft and the broth is thickened.  This batch has a completely different look for two reasons:  red potatoes tend to hold their shape better than russet or gold potatoes; and I was in a time crunch and cooked the potatoes only until they were tender.

I try to reduce fat and salt and add fiber to favorite dishes when possible.  If reducing fat and salt are not concerns, then saute onions, pepper, and garlic  along with the ground beef; drain the fat from the meat but do not rinse; and add salt with abandon.  Peel the potatoes if potato skins aren't your thing.

Picadillo may be served in a bowl like stew or made into tacos with flour or corn tortillas.  Usually, I eat part as stew and make tacos for the freezer with the rest.  Place some of the mixture in a flour tortilla, roll individually in foil, and freeze.  To microwave, remove taco from foil, wrap in paper towel, microwave on defrost for 2 or 3 minutes, and finish on high for 1 minute.


Picadillo
2 pounds ground beef
1 pound potatoes
1 medium onion
1 jalapeno
3 or 4 cloves garlic
splash of olive oil, about 1 tablespoon
1 (14.5 ounce) can tomatoes and green chilies
water (2 tomato cans, more or less)
2 teaspoons comino (cumin)
salt to taste (or omit)

Wash and cube unpeeled potatoes.  Leaving on the peeling adds fiber, and many of the nutrients lie just under the skin.  Chop onion, and mince jalapeno and garlic.  Brown ground beef, then drain in a colander.  To remove additional fat, run hot water over the meat.  Wipe down the cooking pan with paper towel to remove all the beef fat, then add a splash of olive oil  While the meat is draining, saute the onion and jalapeno in the olive oil.  Add the cooked ground beef, uncooked potatoes, tomatoes and green chilies, comino, and water.  Cook, covered, until potatoes are tender.  Add additional water if the mixture  looks too dry.  Salt to taste.  Variations:  Add a can of refried beans or some leftover pinto or black beans.  If you are in a hurry, microwave the potatoes while the meat is cooking and add them already cooked to the mixture. 

One Egg Cake

4 tablespoons shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup sweet milk*
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
(may use 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 3/4 cup sour milk**)

*milk and ** buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 inch round or square baking pan. Cream shortening and sugar; add egg and beat well. Sift flour and baking powder. Add dry ingredients and milk alternately to shortening/sugar/egg mixture; mix until creamy and well blended. Add vanilla, mix well. Bake 55 to 60 minutes, or until well browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Dust with powdered sugar, or frost with your favorite frosting.

The story behind the recipe.

I grew up at with a stay-at-home mother who cooked three times a day, and I was usually under foot, watching everything she did.  She let me stir things and add ingredients from time to time.  When I was about five years old, I decided that I wanted to bake a cake all on my own.  I didn't want to ask permission, the answer might be no.  The opportunity presented itself one day when my mother was working outdoors.  I sneaked into the kitchen and got out a small, round pan and greased it.  Next, I made a batter using sugar, flour, an egg, milk, and vanilla.  I don't recall if any shortening or baking powder was involved.  I turned on the oven and placed the cake inside.  Several minutes later, my mother came back inside; and, feeling guilty, I confessed what I had done.  She looked in the oven, and the cake was brown enough.  She took it out of the oven, waited for it to cool a bit, and we ate it.  It wasn't perfect, but it was surprisingly decent, all things considered.  I wasn't in too much trouble; my mother was pretty impressed that the cake wasn't completely awful.  There was a talk about asking permission when I wanted to cook and warnings about the dangers that could befall a little girl cooking all by herself.  Many kitchen adventures followed; my mother allowed me the freedom to learn from her and to experiment on my own.  I will always be grateful to have grown up in a family that enjoyed good food.

The cake I made in my first kitchen adventure was similar to the One Egg Cake that my mother made pretty often.  The recipe came from her mother, who sold butter and eggs as a source of farm income; making a cake with only one egg freed up more eggs to sell.  It has a somewhat coarse texture and will not win the cake class at the bake show, but it is a glimpse into the past.  The original recipe has no mixing instructions - none of my family recipes for baked goods include instructions.  Anyone should know how to make cakes and cookies, right?  The instructions I added are standard cake mixing procedure.