Can I just go ahead and tell you that this has been a really good week? I mean, seriously, how can a week where I get to create recipes filled with my favorite ooey, gooey, all melty with some crispy bits that I save just for me Cabot cheeses? Whew. Took a lot of breath to get that one out. And please don't tell Ryan that I steal eat all the crispy cheese bits while he isn't looking. There's a reason that I make an effort to serve him plated dinners with the food already on his plate....set right in front of him as if he were dining in a restaurant and served by a real chef. Isn't that nice? But just between you and me.....it's really so I can keep all the brown crispy bits to myself and eat them while I serve his plate. Don't judge.
There was no shortage of crispy brown cheesy bits when I baked these pimento cheese cups. Have you ever tried to bake pimento cheese? It's quite mind-altering, really. Mind-altering in the sense of how good it is, mind you, not with regard to this recipe being difficult to make. No rocket science here, folks. You just whip up a batch of your favorite pimento cheese recipe and bake it until its melted/molten with a brown and bubbly top. Easy enough.
The revolutionary part of the recipe I'm sharing with you today lies in the fact we are baking pimento cheese in two unique and completely opposite {but equally satisfying} vessels: hand-carved zucchini cups and ready-made phyllo shells. Every cook has their to have their short cuts, am I right?
I like to think that when I bake pimento cheese in vessels that take approximately two bites to eat, I will practice portion control and not eat too much pimento cheese. I mean, you can only fit so much pimento cheese into these little cups, so it should work in theory, right? The practice of portion control is up to you. And me.
So why bake the pimento cheese in two different types of cups? Well, I figured a gluten-free appetizer/party food would be welcome at everyone's game day spread. Hence the zucchini cups. {Are you ever tempted pronounce zucchini as "zoo-chee-nee;" you know, just for fun?} And the phyllo cups are my attempt to recreate a bite-sized version of the most perfectly out of this world pimento cheese sandwich from one of my favorite Dallas lunch spots. Namely, the famous "Some Like It Hot" sandwich from the Chocolate Angel. It will make any good Southern girl feel like she has died and gone to heaven.
What makes the "Some Like It Hot" sandwich so unique and charming is that they serve it with a side of strawberry jam. An unlikely combo with pimento cheese, to be sure, but the most pleasant of surprises to this foodie. So I've hidden a little nugget of strawberry jam beneath a mound of molten pimento cheese and wrapped in crunchy, flaky phyllo shell. It totally works - take my word for it! And maybe try the recipe?
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Zucchini and Phyllo Pimento Cheese Cups
Ingredients
- 2 small zucchini diced into ¾'' coins, need a total of 15
- 15 phyllo shell cups found in the freezer section
- ½ cup all-natural strawberry jam I use Smucker's Natural Strawberry Spread
- 1 cup shredded Cabot Seriously Sharp cheddar cheese about 3 ounces
- 1 cup shredded Cabot Alpine cheddar cheese about 3 ounces
- 4 ounce jar of diced pimentos drained thoroughly
- ½ cup Hellmann's mayonnaise with olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons Louisiana hot sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Using a pairing knife or spoon with a serrated tip, gently scoop the flesh out of your zucchini cups, being careful not to cut into the bottom of the cup. Place the zucchini shells and phyllo shells on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Fill each phyllo shell with ½ teaspoon of the strawberry jam. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the cheese and pimentos.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, salt, pepper, mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Add to pimento cheese mixture and toss with a rubber spatula until well-incorporated.
- Fill each phyllo shell and zucchini cup with 1 tablespoon of the pimento cheese mixture. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the tops are brown and bubbly. Be careful not to overbake the zucchini as it will become too soft after 15 minutes. Serve hot out of the oven!
Notes
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