I am so, so, so excited for Callie’s Biscuits and Southern Traditions cookbook to come out on October 15th. Callie’s is a staple at parties in Charleston, from her amazing biscuits to the delicious pimento cheese- everything she makes is fantastic, and I am thrilled that she is putting out a cookbook! I am also thrilled that there is a Biscuits and Bourbon after party at Billy Reid, which is just super fun. Make sure to pre-order yours today!
It is a good thing I like cheese so much- well maybe it isn’t, but the fact is I do, and since I have made so many batches of pimento cheese in the last week, I guess it is a good thing. To start right off, pimento cheese made with pepper jack is awesome. My first batch was very simple- 2 cups of shredded pepper jack cheese, 6 tablespoons of Dukes mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and a dash of chili pepper. This one really can’t even be called pimento cheese since I didn’t even use pimentos. I thought the “pepper” in the pepper jack might be enough, but it wasn’t. Second batch was pretty much the same except I added 2 tablespoons of pimentos. This one had more taste, but I wasn’t happy just yet. So the third batch, thanks to Frances’s suggestion, I added 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce- this was awesome, except it still didn’t have the color I was hoping for, so finally, for the fourth batch, I used 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, once cup of pepper jack cheese, 6 tablespoons of mayonnaise, salt and pepper, 2 tablespoons of pimentos, and 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. This recipe is the business! Now, I am sure that you all know that today is the start of the college football season, and in South Carolina or maybe the South in general, this day for a lot of people is maybe better than Christmas. It is actually shocking that this is not a holiday The South Carolina Gamecocks are playing the Vanderbilt Commodores this evening, and we are going of course to a party at a friend’s house to celebrate this wonderful day. Actually I should be more accurate- the boys will be watching the game while I and my wonderful girlfriends will have forgotten the g
ame is on and be chatting and toasting to it almost being Friday. And I feel this is the perfect place to test my new recipe, although after four batches and a lot of effort, I really think the party should be about my pimento cheese as opposed to football. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend and Go Gamecocks!
Walker had his first day of school yesterday- except that it was only for one hour. I am not really sure the point of a one hour day, but I guess it eased him into it. However, I had to then think of something else for us to do for the rest of the day. Driving back over the bridge from running an errand, I saw a boat pulling para sailors in the harbor, and just like that I had my idea for the day. I went home and called Tidal Wave Water Sports (www.tidalwavewatersports.com), and two hours later, Walker and I were in a boat headed out to para sail. It was awesome and not really scary at all (but I was really happy to be back on solid ground when we were done). I am not sure what the correlation between the two is, but something about seeing the para sailors in the harbor and then doing it myself, made me think of a Garden & Gun post on Facebook I saw the other day about pimento cheese and the Lee Brothers. The post talked about pimento cheese purist who will only use shredded cheddar cheese, Dukes, and jarred pimentos, and anything else isn’t pimento cheese. Well, the Lee Brothers (I love them!) put a spin on this classic using Swiss cheese and banana peppers. Highly interesting, and here is the recipe:
10 oz. Swiss cheese, finely grated
One 12-oz. jar pickled banana peppers (hot if available) drained and minced
3 tbs. sour cream
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 tbs. chives minced (approx. 1/6 bunch)
2 tbs. capers (soaked in fresh water for 1 minute then drained)
Mix all ingredients together with a spatula until evenly blended. Refrigerate, if possible, for 2 hours or overnight. Serve in a bowl with a good supply of crackers.
All of this got me thinking- well, if you can use Swiss cheese, why couldn’t you use my favorite pepper jack cheese? And I think that you could, and then I started thinking that you could use this new mixture in the pimento cheese popovers recipe that is so phenomenal (all of this thinking and random associations between this and the para sailing occurred around 3am in a semi dream/tossing and turning state, and all of this would probably make much more sense if I had written it all down last night when it seemed really genius). So, I am going to try it! I am going to use Duke’s Mayonnaise Pimento Cheese recipe but substitute pepper jack cheese for cheddar, and if that all turns out to be as delicious as I think it will, I will then make the Pimento Cheese Popovers with the new pepper jack concoction. And the creating and testing of all of that will be Part 2 (no more para sailing for a while). If you have any suggestions or helpful hints- they would be much appreciated!!
Corby has been making German pancakes on the weekend for breakfast, and since those don’t really have anything to do with Southern Baking, I have not blogged about them despite how amazing they are. He adds vanilla, cinnamon, powdered sugar, syrup- they are pretty special. But, the thing I like best about the German pancakes other than the sugar and butter and delicious taste, is how it puffs up in the oven. My son Walker gets the biggest kick out of that- to see how big and puffy the German pancake will get. So I decided to experiment with popovers and cheese, which I love. I got a popover pan and a recipe off the Internet and added my own twist of putting pimento cheese in them- I used Callies Pimento Cheese which is the BEST- they are so good, and so easy!
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6- 1/2 tablespoon balls of pimento cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees, and I have found it best if you put the popover pan in the oven while it is preheating. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs slightly, then beat in the flour, milk and salt until smooth, but be sure not to over beat it. What I have done, is when the oven is at 450, pour the egg mixture into a mixing cup or something with a pour spout. Open the oven, and pull out the rack with the pan on it, spray some cooking oil (I have used Pam) or pour a little oil in each popover cup. Then fill the cups up about half way- put a pimento cheese ball in each and then pour a little more of the mixture over top so that the cheese is covered. Then cook for 20 minutes at 450 then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook for another 20 minutes. I actually just left mine at 450 for about 25-30 minutes and they were perfect, and they got much bigger than the German pancake, so Walker was immensely happy!