Who Moved my Blog?

A few weeks ago while the LOML and I were babysitting (gotta keep our hustle on to stack that dolla!), I was thumbing through Frank Stitt’s Southern Table cookbook, and found this recipe for Miss Verbena’s Pimento Cheese. I’m pretty sure Frank could write a recipe for corrugated cardboard (from local farmers, of course), and it’d be tasty, but this sounded really, really good. And I’ve always thought Pimento Cheese looked/sounded kinda gross (my experience being limited to that of the grocery store variety).

Needless to say, I’ve been itching to make this Pimento Cheese since. This is a pretty easy recipe, and I used it in an omelet this morning. I’m really looking forward to making some grilled Pimento Cheese sandwiches later this week.


Miss Verbena’s Pimento Cheese (adapted from Frank Stitt)
1 lb grated sharp Cheddar Cheese
¼ lb cream cheese (softened)
½ C mayonnaise (I used Duke’s Light)
1 red pepper, roasted, skinned, seeded, and finely chopped
1 tsp white pepper (I used black)
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp Sriracha (substituted for dash of Tabasco and (optional) 1/8 tsp cayenne)

The directions are easy: combine and refrigerate.


Note: I used a combination of Mammoth and Black Wax cheddar cheese from Whole Foods. I’m not really sure why I picked those, but the black wax looked pretty sweet. Frank’s recipe calls for THREE roasted red peppers, but I thought that sounded (and looked) pretty excessive. I roasted three, chopped one, and thought that was plenty. Also, we’re out of Tabasco, so I used Sriracha instead. If we swing by Publix this week, I might add some more to this batch.

PS – On a sad foodie note, Gourmet magazine announced today it’s shutting down its monthly publication. Another sad loss for the print media industry . . .

High on Fire

For those of you living outside the Birmingham area, you might be surprised to read this, but Birmingham has some really nice restaurants. And by nice, I mean restaurants that “foodies” can get really excited about.

You could say Frank Stitt started this re-food-volution (did I just come up with the word of 2009???) when he opened up Highlands Bar & Grill a little over twenty years ago (and has since opened Bottega (alongside Bottega Café), and Chez Fonfon). Highlands is the place you go to celebrate an anniversary/birthday or to have a drink before a show (the Strokes were supposedly drinking there before they played Sloss Furnace two years ago).

In addition to being a James Beard award-winning chef, Frank is also an accomplished author and has written two cook-books, A Southern Table, and Bottega Favorita.

The LOML (love-of-my-life) and I just got back from a trip to the Beach with our friends, where I really wanted to try out one of Frank’s recipes (Charred Onion Dip) from Bottea Favorita. I could not get enough French Onion dip in my mouth when I was a kid (probably why I was wearing “husky” clothes for most of my youth) and I thought this recipe looked really good. Should I have brought half a gallon of this stuff to the beach?? Was that too much (we did have twelve people)?? When it was gone on the third day, I knew we had a winner. I think the secret ingredient here is Mascarpone, so don’t skip out on it!

Bottega’s Charred Onion Dip

Ingredients:
2 cups sour cream
1 tablespoon mascarpone
1 scant tablespoon whole-grain mustard
4 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon finely sliced chives
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce

2 red onions, sliced 1/2 inch thick and charred about 5 minutes per side (Frank says too “finely” chop, but slicing up a charred onion can get a little slippery, so I “rough” chopped)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:
Combine the sour cream, mascarpone, mustard, Tabasco, chives, lemon juice, and Worcestershire in a mixing bowl. Fold in the chopped onions then taste and adjust the seasonings.

We served with Kettle Potato Chips and it was really good! Seriously, go make some for the BCS Championship on Thursday!