"PimientoCheese" news and stories

Few of us want to make a complicated lasagna for solo dining -- by day six, you'll never want to see lasagna again! In this series, AOL Food staffer Sarah LeTrent taste-tests simple recipes suitable for a "table for one."

Oh, beloved pimento cheese; the Southeast's answer to cheese dip and queso.

The bright-orange spread is nothing more than extra-sharp cheddar, mayonnaise, diced pimiento peppers and cracked black pepper. Homemade pimento cheese is a snap to make and leftovers are a cracker's best friend. You could spruce up the spread with serrano peppers, garlic, cayenne, different types of cheese or even bacon. But to most, nothing is better than the classic four-ingredient mix between two pieces of bread.

Whether they choose to spell it pimento or pimiento, odds are most folks know the heart-shaped cherry pepper from its use as a stuffing for green olives. The people behind National Pimiento Month are out to change all that.

That's why they picked a Deep South comfort food as the flagship recipe for their monthlong campaign. Pimiento cheese, Elvis' favorite hamburger topping, is a cool blend of shredded Cheddar, mayonnaise and chopped pimientos that makes for one savory snack spread.

In case you're wondering, National Pimiento month did not originate in the Southeast, which consumes 42 percent of the  pimiento cheese in the U.S., but  in California, where most of the nation's pimientos are grown.

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We'll get to the history in a second. First, we want to know, what is John T. Edge (prodigious eater of hamburgers and author of Hamburgers & Fries)'s favorite hamburger? It's the PC Burger from Columbia, South Carolina - yep, it's my favorite Southern condiment, pimiento cheese, rearing its orange head again. I can't wait to try Edge's version of the dip, which includes sage, scallions, and only a bit of mayo. "Put the cold cheese on the hot meat, and it begins to melt, and you get these little swirls and eddies on top of the burger as the cheese begins to melt..."

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