Ingredients:
8 oz shredded aged sharp cheddar
4 oz jarred diced pimentos, drained
1/4 cup diced fire-roasted Hatch Green Chiles
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon ground garlic
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Place all ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir to combine. Refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to overnight for best flavor.
My thoughts:
Last January as part of our annual decade-theme meal(s) we celebrated the 1920s with a “ladies who lunch” lunch featuring chicken salad with tarragon and slivered almonds, a zippy tomato aspic, classic creamy pimento cheese and deviled eggs along with celery sticks, carrot sticks and a relish tray. It was so much fun making a meal of all these little bites! When I was thinking about what to do with the Hatch chiles I didn’t freeze, I thought making a green & red pimento cheese would be fun. Then I took it a step further and decided to make a whole meal out of it. Think of it as “ladies who lunch….in the Southwest”. Normally Hatch chiles seem to be tossed mostly in spicy Southwest or Tex-Mex dishes like enchiladas, burritos, tacos, chili and stew (and I admit, I like them in that form as well) but I thought it would be fun to explore them in a slightly unexpected way and pop them into dishes that aren’t known for their heat. Look for a couple of more recipes from this lunch in the next few days.
Love the theme! I'm totally going to steal that idea. I'll finally put all my vintage cookbooks to good use.
You know I love a theme! Plus you can make a lot of it ahead of time.