Pimento cheese Deviled Eggs.

This is the perfect appetizer for any party, any time of year. It’s easy. It’s do ahead. It’s pretty, and at least here in the South, it’s beloved.

The general rule of thumb for parties in Nashville is the expectation of bringing a dish with an invitation. This was not true of parties in Pennsylvania or California, unless it was very specifically a community potluck.

I personally don’t want people bringing dishes to my parties, for there is just food out there I can’t put on my table. You surely know what I’m talking about. Or am I just awful? But seriously, my family would have died if someone showed up at our door with some American frankenfood. Desserts, wine, fruit, flowers, nuts, candy, all totally acceptable as long as the desserts were homemade. Some family members would have been insulted if someone brought a hot covered dish because in our family, the role of the host was to be food provider and this, of course, was done with pleasure. After all, we are Italian.

Now that I live in the South, I embrace the “covered dish” aspect of a party, as far as taking food. I actually have to restrain myself from taking four or five dishes, which is some kind of obsessive compulsive twitch I’ve developed since living here. Italians also have a fear of not having enough food at a party or at any meal for that matter.

You may not be aware of how neurotic, snobby and picky Italians can be. It would not be uncommon for one of my aunts to be looking over the food just to make sure only family members made it, or to hear a whisper “who made that?” to ascertain the quality of the dish. That same aunt refused to go to potlucks, because she had a fear of butter, but that’s another story.

The flip side of that darkness is that Italians generally (at least a generation ago) delivered fantastic food, except there is another caveat.

Italians (at least in my family) were so over the top with this food snobbery, that they might pick apart another Italian’s food if they come from what they considered an undesirable region. An undesirable region is any region their family didn’t come from. After having been to Italy and hearing the folklore and stories of feuds and territorial fights, I understood the root of this.

And, just to make you feel better, I have had epic failures at parties where I’ve brought something no one would eat. A few years ago I made a spicy tuna salad that went untouched and my signature cupcakes that no one wanted to gain weight on. It happens.

The funny thing is that when I do go to potluck type parties, my friends will be anxious for me to try their food and a little worried because I write a food blog. I want to tell them, don’t worry because I write a food blog. Worry because I am Italian. Please see the humor in this. It’s also in my genes to be gracious and nice and kind, and I’ll be the first to tell someone how wonderful their dish is. If I taste something awful, I don’t let anyone see me cover it with a napkin and head to the trash can. You know you’ve done this too.

But, one thing I’ve discovered here in the South is the power of the deviled egg.

Take deviled eggs to a party and they are gobbled up so quickly, you can grab your empty dish and head to the next party. People eat them in one bite, maybe two and grab another. Even the dieters eat them. You know the type, the people who tell you they are on a diet at a Christmas party. I’m wondering now if that’s true or if they are just as weird as I am.

I had my first pimento cheese deviled egg at a food blogger’s pot luck and it was my favorite thing at the party. It was a little bit different than this recipe in that the pieces of cheese were more visible, while this is made more smooth, and both versions are good.

These Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs are extra special, because they are made with pimento cheese and a little heat. For ease, you can buy your best gourmet pimento cheese or simply make your own. The only hard part about this is making those perfect hard boiled eggs, recipe here.

The crazy confession I have to make is that these are my first deviled eggs that I’ve ever made, and one of the best I’ve ever eaten. So tell me, what do you bring to potlucks and when you throw parties are you hopeful that people will bring food or bring the booze?

Print

Spicy Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs

Spicy Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs, winning appetizer and a Southern treat.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 42 minutes minutes

Servings 24

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Pimento Cheese

• 1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons pimento plus enough for garnish

Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs

• 14 hard boiled eggs always make extra for mistakes and tasting
• 1 cup pimento cheese
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard

Instructions

Pimento Cheese Spread

• Mix cream cheese with Worcestershire.
• Mix all cheeses with sriracha, pimento, salt, pepper. Refrigerate, while making hard boiled eggs.

Pimento cheese Deviled Eggs

• Make hard boiled eggs. Recipe here.
• Run hard boiled eggs under cold water. Peel.
• Mix mayonnaise, mustard together with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly, until yolks are like a spread, no crumbles. Mix with pimento cheese.
• Taste for heat, salt, and mayonnaise. Add only as needed. Put into a pastry bag fitted with a large 1 M or star tip.If you don't have, use a plastic bag and cut a very small hole in one corner.
• Slice lengthwise and empty yolks into a bowl.
• Squeeze mixture onto eggs. Refrigerate covered, by placing in a large baking dish.
• Serve within 24 hours.

The post Spicy Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Sunset Tomato Jam should have been served at our sunset wedding in cute jars, with a sentimental label, which  I would have printed out myself using two different fonts that blend together in harmony. It’s a balanced combination of sweet and heat, and I think it would have represented us well.

Of course the tomatoes would have been grown in my garden and we, the happy couple, would have made the jam together.  We would have placed them on distressed pewter trays, picked up at yard sales on one of our leisurely Saturdays with spoons we ordered on line, served with toast points. We would have a Pinterest moment.

That makes me want to spit out my coffee or maybe go hurl.

I love and hate Pinterest because it sucks me into a fantasy life, and ups my desire for more style, while simultaneously, creating even deeper dissatisfaction with my table settings,  my picture arrangements, my staircase,  my pillows, my wall treatments, and my not so perfectly distressed furniture.

I have one board called white rooms, but how realistic is this for someone like me. Am I pinning for heaven?

I love the food props, the colored twine, the jars, the labels, the imagination, the perfect lighting, the hint of a vintage apron,  but do I really live like that?

My pictures on this blog probably create an unrealistic view of our life. No one was there to to see the tomato jam on the floor that plopped and stayed there for twenty minutes  until the dog licked it up, because we were out of paper towels.

No one was there to see the three times I went to the garden to get the basil and let it sit on the counter and shrivel to waste. No one was there to see that I didn’t account for the larger tomatoes when I blanched and skinned them and had to use some herculean strength to get that skin off of tomato number 7.

Of course I’ll make you think that I slipped each tomato out of the skin like butter. I’ll make you think that I used raw local honey, when I probably grabbed that New Zealand blackberry honey that Mr. ST insisted we buy in Toronto at $14 a jar, and has yet to eat any of. I’ll even make you think we can afford a $14 jar of honey, when we can’t always afford paper towels. That’s the truth behind blogging. (And, I know it’s not local).

Will someone please tell me the truth behind Pinterest?

Pinterest Creates First World Anxiety

Who are these people that live in these perfect kitchens or sleep in these beyond heavenly beds adorned with  pillows that cost more than my sofa?

They don’t live in my neighborhood. Even when I did decorative painting charging $2000 for dining rooms, I didn’t see the glamor and glory of what I see on Pinterest.

Oh, I’m just as addicted to it as you are. I pin and I sigh and I dream. I  pin my own food hoping you will too. It does taste good and for a minute or two it does look good, but I want you to know the process behind the scenes can be something I hope the camera never captures and you never find out that I’m just like you.

It’s true that we eat better than most people and we are spoiled with farmer’s markets, and good pans. It’s true that that every single recipe dish you see here is made in my kitchen by my own hands. But, there are back stories you don’t know.

I burn food, I break dishes, I forget to sharpen my knife,  and half of my tomato plants never produced more than one harvest.

Now that you know the truth, let me encourage you to spread your wings in the garden, or in the kitchen, and don’t worry that you don’t produce “pinterestable” dishes or photographs. We food bloggers probably have more non-pinterest moments than you may think.

This is a pretty delicious tomato jam. I  did grow these tomatoes and basil in my garden. And, all truth telling aside, sunset tomato jam is very easy to make and has all sorts of potential.  It jazzed up some Farmer’s Market fresh green beans, and I’m soon to show you how I put it on fish and grits.

I had waited for just the right recipe to pop up in front of my face and when this one from Food Loves Writing was in my in box, I bookmarked it and I put it in a jar just like Shana did, because I couldn’t improve on that idea. It comes originally from Herbivoracious, a cookbook by food blogger, Michael Natkin.   We have each added our own adaptation to it, as recipes should really only be blueprints.

I wanted to stay in the spirit of the Tomato Arts Festival recently held in East Nashville.  I used all the tomatoes I could find in my garden, which ended up being a mix of golden and red which reminded me of the sunset and did bring me back to memories of our non-Pinterest,  yet beautiful wedding.

Oh, the stress of First World Problems. Follow my fantasy life pinterest boards here.  I’ll follow your fantasy life back.

Print

Sunset Tomato Jam from My Garden

Adapted from Herbivoracious, and a recipe found on Food Loves Writing, I mixed red and golden tomatoes and basil from my garden with some syracha

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 2 pounds tomatoes
• 1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
• 1 tablespoon basil finely chopped
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1-2 teaspoons Sriracha or hefty dash cayenne
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

• Slice off top of tomato. On backside, use knife to draw an x. Place into boiling water for 8 seconds. Remove with slotted spoon. Cool. Peel.
• Chop finely.
• Place in saucepan with basil, honey, salt, pepper, Sriracha.
• Cook for 1 to 2 hours on low until all liquid is evaporated and you have jam.

The post Sunset Tomato Jam Recipe appeared first on Spinach Tiger.