Cheese Spread

As spring turns to summer, I find a vast array of veggies in the local megamart. These are all good, and I have been feasting on them, but grow weary of Blue Cheese dressing, Ranch Dressing, Peanut Butter, and Mayonnaise as a dip / stuffing.

From my youth comes pimento cheese spread, a “Fromage Fort”, or a mixture of various left over cheeses, blended with various other ingredients, perhaps thinned with a white wine.

The pimento spread from my youth had NO alcohol, but instead used mayonnaise. I’ll do the same here.

Stuffed into celery stalks, or baby bell peppers this is sublime, (one wonders stuffed into jalapenos, breaded, air fried, but that’s another post), spread between fresh sourdough bread and toasted as a grilled cheese, perhaps spread on croutons made from older sourdough baguettes, or just alone as a spread for crackers or thinned with beer, into a dip for tortilla chips, this is a multi tasker.

Perhaps, I’ll build a fruit and cracker plate with this as the star.

From Wikipedia:

Cheese spread is a soft spreadable cheese or processed cheese product. Various additional ingredients are sometimes used, such as multiple cheeses, fruits, vegetables and meats, and many types of cheese spreads exist. Pasteurized process cheese spread is a type of cheese spread prepared using pasteurized processed cheese and other ingredients.

Fromage fort (literally “strong cheese”) is a French cheese spread. It is traditionally made by blending together pieces of different leftover cheeses, white wine (or other spirits), garlic, and various herbs. Other ingredients include pepper and leek broth. Aging is optional.

Blue cheese, while one of the possible components, is usually included in small quantities, as its flavor is often stronger than other traditional ingredients.

One can scale this up for make larger batches, I tend to make smaller ones, as I WILL eat the entire batch. If it is large, I’ll eat the entire batch, if it is a 55 gallon barrel batch, I’ll eat the entire batch

Spicy Cheese Spread

Creamy, Cheesey, Spicey, perfect for raw veggies, or the star of a grilled cheese

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Course Ingredient, Snack

Cuisine American

Servings 8 oz

Calories 174 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 8 tbsp Gruyère Cheese grated
• 8 tbsp Cheddar Cheese White is best, grated
• 6 tbsp Fontina Cheese grated
• 2 tbsp Red Onion peeled, Minced finely
• 3 tbsp Hot pepper paste gochujang, to taste
• 3 cloves Garlic peeled, minced finely
• 2 tbsp Dill pickle minced finely
• 3 tbsp Mayonnaise to taste
• 2 tbsp Pimento pepper minced finely

Instructions

 

• Mix all in a medium bowl until combined, cover and refrigerate one hour if possible

Notes

If one can, this is much better after an hour in the refrigerator, if one can't  it is still damned good

This is a take on a childhood  memory, pimento cheese spread, but updated to match my growing taste for spice.

One can sub pimento stuffed olives for the pimentos, drop the pickles for pickled jalapenos for an extra kick.

It's great as a stuffing for raw veggies, and works well as the cheese component of a grilled cheese.

Nutrition

Calories: 174kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 8gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 347mgPotassium: 72mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 423IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 210mgIron: 1mg

Keyword Cheese, Spread

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