In my opinion, just about every recipe needs Old Bay seasoning. It’s what makes this southern pimento cheese something different, something special. I knew exactly where this yummy mixture was heading the moment I spied the recipe. I was going to pile it up high on a slice of grilled bologna. The perfect topping for the perfect sandwich. I could’ve used it as a dip. Or inside an omelet. Or really, I could just sit down with a spoon and a bowl of southern pimento cheese (ok, that might be a stretch, but not much of one).
Shred Your Own Cheese
Whenever making a dish like this southern pimento cheese I always shred the cheese by hand. I buy a big ole block of cheese and put some muscle into a shredder. The pre-shredded stuff has things added to it to keep it from sticking together. You don’t want that in your pimento cheese. So do it by hand like I do.
Update: Oh my goodness! No more hard work shredding my cheese! I love this shredder! It’s one of the best kitchen gadgets I’ve ever purchased.
I knew exactly where this yummy mixture was heading the moment I spied the recipe: piled up high on a slice of grilled bologna, toping off the perfect sandwich.
Smoked tomato pimento cheese polenta. I think I’ve whispered those words 20 days since I made this dish, smiling and remembering. Without a doubt, this was one of the best tasting sides I’ve ever had. Just a hint of smokiness from the smoked tomatoes and tons of cheesy creaminess. And polenta, my favorite thing no matter what it is mixed with. This makes a big huge batch of polenta, but you’ll find you won’t have any trouble making it disappear. This is a fantastic recipe, one we’ll be making time and time again.
Creamy Deliciousness
I like my polenta very creamy and a little on the thin side. As opposed to thick and dense. You can cook your smoked tomato pimento cheese polenta a little longer than I did if you want yours thicker. If you get it too thick, stir in a bit more cream to thin it. When reheating polenta I stir in a bit more cream to get it back to it’s original wonderfully creamy state.
I prefer to use fruit or nut woods when I smoke unless I want a heavier smoke flavor. Pecan, apple or cherry are my favorites.
Without a doubt, this was one of the best tasting sides I’ve ever had. Just a hint of smokiness from the smoked tomatoes and tons of cheesy creaminess.
Fire up your smoker for 250 F. Use a light fruit wood such as apple or peach.
Use a knife to cut a small slit in the bottom of each tomato and place on the smoker, step side down.
Smoke for 1 hour or until tender. Remove and let cool.
Rough chop the tomatoes, removing any hard pieces or stems, and place into a blender or food processor and puree. Add to a large pot over medium high heat.
Stir in the broth and bring to a boil.
Stir in the polenta. Reduce heat to a simmer and keep stirring until the liquid has boiled away.
Stir in the cream and pimento cheese. Keep stirring until the cheese has melted.
Season with salt and pepper and let simmer until the polenta reaches the desired thickness.
Notes
Put the broth in a pot on the smoker while smoking the tomatoes for more great smoky flavor.
My wife’s a huge fan of pimento cheese. She makes a pimento cheese salad for sandwiches. When I ran across this recipe for pimento cheeseburger topping from Annie’s Recipes, I snapped it up and made it the next time we grilled burgers.
The pimento cheese stays together. It doesn’t just up and run down your burger and onto your plate or into your lap. Every bite you take you get that wonderful cheesy flavor. And there’s just a little bit of a kick from the hot sauce. It’s much better than just tossing a slice of cheese on your burger, that’s for sure.
The Perfect Topping
Pimento cheese isn’t just for hamburgers, either. It’s great on hot dogs or on baked potatoes (yes!). And crackers. Oh yes. It’s completely fantastic on crackers too!
The pimento cheese stays together. It doesn’t just up and run down your burger and onto your plate or into your lap. Every bite you take you get that wonderful cheesy flavor with just a little bit of a kick from the hot sauce. It’s much better than just tossing a slice of cheese on your burger, that’s for sure.
Note: This recipe was developed using the Char-Broil Big Easy Oil-Less Fryer. If you are cooking using the Char-Broil Smoker-Roaster Grill you should cook with the lid open and the temperature set to High. You might also need to adjust the cooking time.
I admit that I have a big time addiction to scalloped potatoes. I can make them in all sorts of flavors, like these pimento cheese scalloped potatoes using the Char-Broil Big Easy. Heck, it might be just a few ingredients, but oh, is it so tasty yummy! Leftovers heat up easy too. Well, if you have any. I highly recommend that you double the recipe.
Making the pimento cheese scalloped potatoes
Everything for these pimento cheese scalloped potatoes is pretty much cooked before you place them into your Char-Broil Big Easy. At any rate, you’re using the great infrared heat of the Big Easy to melt the cheese and get a nice brown on the potatoes and a little crunch. They come out of the cooker bubbling hot and crazy addictingly good.
These Dutch oven pans fit into the bunk bed baskets perfectly and they make for easy clean up. Another key point is that you can easily fit two baskets into a Big Easy without any problem. Although three can fit but you’re in for a challenge getting the last one in. Doable, but possible.
Above all, as with any disposable pans, you have to support the bottoms of the pans when lifting them. The bunk bed basket helps with that a lot. Getting the one out of the bottom of the Big Easy is trickier. I sometimes slide a large spatula in from the side to support the bottom while I lift it up far enough to get my heat-proof gloved hand underneath.
Bring to cream to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Season with salt and pepper and stir.
Add the potatoes. Add more cream if the potatoes aren't covered.
Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes are just becoming tender. This will take 10-12 minutes. If the potatoes stick to each other you can break them apart with a fork but be careful to not poke or break the potatoes.
Remove potatoes from the heat.
Fire up your Big Easy.
Spoon 1/3 of the potatoes into the pan. Also add some of the cream sauce.
Spread the potatoes out evenly.
Sprinkle the potatoes evenly with 1/3rd of the cheese and 1/3rd of the pimentos.
Add another 1/3 of the potatoes and some of the cream, topped with another 1/3rd of the cheese and 1/3rd of the pimentos.
Finish up with the last of the potatoes, cream, cheese and pimentos.
Transfer the pan to the Big Easy. I recommend using a Bunk Bed basket because it's easier to get in/out of the Big Easy and it provides support to the bottom of the pan.
Cook for 30-45 minutes or until the cheese is starting to bubble and the tops of the potatoes start to turn golden brown.
Carefully remove the pan from the Big Easy. If using a Bunk Bed basket remove just the basket.
I find myself making more and more dishes from Chef Vivian Howard’s book, Deep Run Roots. Her southern-inspired recipes are packed with flavor and tradition. I made a big batch of Chef Howard’s pimento cheese, which by itself is insanely good. Half went for sandwiches while the other half ended up in these delicious pimento cheese grits. Creamy and yummy. I love grits. Adding pimento cheese to them makes me love them even more. I didn’t think that was possible.
Quality Grits Make For… Great Grits!
I use corn grits polenta from Bob’s Mill. They cook up in about 30 minutes and always have the perfect texture and flavor, great for pimento cheese grits. You can substitute quick-cooking grits in a pinch. They only take about 5 minutes.
This is the potato salad I’ve been dreaming about. The one I was hoping I would find. THE ONE. Pimento cheese? A house favorite. Jalapenos? Bacon? In darned near everything I make. Add the three together to make jalapeno pimento cheese potato salad and you’ve got the perfect storm of flavor goodness.
The Case Of The Disappearing Salad
I could sit down with the entire bowl of this jalapeno pimento cheese potato salad and just go to town on it in one sitting. Gone. All done. There is nothing about this that isn’t just flat-out fantastic.
I highly recommend that you shred or grate your own cheese at home. Don’t buy the pre-shredded or pre-grated stuff. It has stuff added to it to keep it from sticking together. That ‘stuff’ affects how the cheese melts. Shred it yourself and use the good stuff.
There’s no way I can think of to improve on this jalapeno pimento cheese potato salad. You could add some more jalapeno but it really doesn’t need it since there’s just the right amount of kick. You could add some more pimentos. But, nope, it doesn’t need that either. Just make it as is and enjoy it. This salad is a thingy of beauty and flavor. If you prefer your potato salad with a little less kick just fold my easy pimento cheese in with the potatoes.
Pimento cheese makes for a great grilled cheese sandwich. Pimento cheese loaded with roasted Hatch chiles makes for an outstanding grilled cheese sandwich. Or dip. Or burger topping. The cheese melts perfectly. And there’s just that slight green chile flavor. Not overpowering, not spicy. Just a really nice pepper flavor. I like that a lot. These sandwiches are different in a very good way.
No Hatch Chiles?
If you can’t find Hatch chiles, you can substitute any mild green chile such as a poblano. Or in a pinch you can use canned green chiles. Our market sells 7 ounce cans of roasted green chiles that would work just fine as a substitute in this Hatch chile pimento cheese. That little can works out to be about the same as 3 Hatch chiles after they’ve been chopped. It’s not quite the same flavor, but it’s as close as you can get without having the real thing.
Pimento cheese makes for a great grilled cheese sandwich. Pimento cheese loaded with roasted Hatch chiles makes for an outstanding grilled cheese sandwich.
These grilled and baked pimento cheese-stuffed potatoes were almost too pretty to eat. But they sure where delicious, and definitely something a little different. I don’t know why the thought of stuffing potatoes with pimento cheese never occurred to me before. It’s certainly way, way better than just plain old shredded cheddar cheese that’s for sure! It’s amazing how just a few ingredients, usually ones I have on-hand, can make a plain-ole plain-ole potato something magical. That’s why I love baked potatoes so much. They’re like a blank canvas just waiting for me to add my own touches.
Indoors or Outdoors, They’re Great!
You can also bake these pimento cheese-stuffed potatoes in the oven at 350 F instead of finishing them on the grill. I follow my always-go-to method for making the best baked potatoes in the oven when cooking them indoors. They have the perfectly crunchy skin with tender, moist insides every single time. You can’t beat them! The key is to not wrap them in foil. Let them ‘breath’. You want them baked, not steamed. And you want them to cook to 210 F. Yep, you can give them the ‘poke test’ too, but 210 F is the guaranteed perfect temperature.
These grilled and baked pimento cheese-stuffed potatoes were almost too pretty to eat. But they sure where delicious, and definitely something a little different.
Cut top 1/4th off each potato. Using a melonballer or spoon, scrape the potato pulp from both the inside of the potato and the top piece into a large bowl.
Add remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix. Use a fork to break up and smash any large potato pieces.
Spoon mixture back into the potatoes.
Place on a grill over indirect heat (or in a preheated oven) at around 350 F for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and lightly golden.
Notes
Substitute pepper jack for nicely kicked-up potatoes.
Pimento cheese is one of those things that does not last very long in our house. Make batch, do a quick errand, come back.. gone! It doesn’t seem to matter how much I make, it’s gone in an instant. Where does it go? Well, one place is in this delicious easy grits dish. Creamy, yummy grits with kicked up pimento cheese. You can’t beat it. Sure, pimento cheese is great on crackers or sandwiches, but in grits… oh me is it ever amazing. Always make extra.
Cheese Grits Elevated
As much as grits are a wonderful thing, the star of this show is the pimento cheese and it deserves the love and the attention it needs to be extraordinary. First, hand shred your cheese. None of that pre-shredded bagged stuff. It has cornstarch or other coatings on it to keep it from sticking. Nope, pass on that. If you’re not a big fan of shredding with your old hand-powered box shredder, get one of these. It’s awesome!
Second, make the pimento cheese the night before you make this dish. Let it get happy in the fridge, just hanging out. It’s better that way. The flavors and the consistency are better the next day.
There are a lot of variations on pimento cheese. What really sets this version apart from others is the addition of smoked paprika and celery seed. The two flavors take a somewhat regular tasting salad to a whole new happy place. If you don’t have a lot of spare time but still want a tasty spread, this is it. It’s different and better than the ‘usual’ stuff without being ‘weird’.
Great On Everything
Easy pimento cheese isn’t just great on bread. I also love it on baked potatoes, crackers, Fritos and grilled burgers and hot dogs too! And boy, you know you’ll want to use these mix in some easy grits! Everywhere you think about adding cheese, substitute this fantastic mix instead. It changes everything!
I highly recommend that you shred or grate your own cheese at home. Don’t buy the pre-shredded or pre-grated stuff. It has stuff added to it to keep it from sticking together. That ‘stuff’ affects how the cheese melts. Shred it yourself and use the good stuff.
My wife’s mom made a fantastic cheese salad that everyone loved. This isn’t that, unfortunately. Hers just can’t be duplicated no matter how hard we try.
