parlor market

Pimento Cheese Served Mad Men Style

Fancy Pants Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

Nearly a year ago I had my first, and most likely last, experience making cake balls for an annual work party. Annual events have a pesky way of popping back up and once again, I was snookered into being part of the food committee.

The theme for our office booth was Mad Men (and Women), echoing the 1960s style and feel of the television show on AMC featuring the likes of Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks and January Jones.  On a side note, I loved dressing up to fit the part and by some amazing feat I wrestled my hair in an up-do thanks to this bun hairstyles for long hair tutorial on YouTube. See the hairstyle pictured below.

Attempting to emulate the tastes of the era, we decided on serving meatballs with a sweet beer sauce, herb cream cheese sandwiches on rye bread, pimento cheese sandwiches on white bread and chocolate wine bundt cake. We nearly went with deviled eggs, cocktail wieners or fondue but had budget and logistical constraints to consider. I did insist on using fancy ruffled cellophane toothpicks and olives for garnish.

The party has come and gone, and although we didn’t win any of the award categories (not a good year for contests), a women returned to our booth asking for the pimento cheese recipe. I count that as a personal victory.

For the pimento cheese sandwiches I used the famed Parlor Market recipe with a few minor alterations. I remembered being pleasantly surprised by my first taste of pimento cheese and figured it would be a crowd pleaser. It is easy to make and what’s not to love about a recipe that includes bacon, cream cheese, cheese and more bacon. Amusingly enough, it does not include pimentos…which is why an olive garnish is perfect.

Parlor Market Pimento Cheese
I used three loaves of bread at 20 slices a loaf, to assemble 30 sandwiches. (60 slices of bread total = 30 sandwiches) They were then cut into four triangles, which resulted in 120 small cocktail sandwiches. I altered the amounts used from the original recipe.

Ingredients
2 – 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
3 c. mayonnaise
5 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 lb. bacon, cooked and diced
4-6 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and a good spoonful or two of sauce
2 green onions, minced

Directions
Beat the softened cream cheese and mayonnaise together in a medium size bowl. Once combined fold in the cheddar cheese, bacon, chipotle peppers, a couple spoonfuls of adobo sauce and green onions. Refrigerate and spread on bread or toasted crostini rounds.

For a print-friendly version, click the new Print & PDF button below. For more recipes check out my Recipe page.

We’re All Winners

We have a winner!

Thank you to Sweet Tree Yogurt for the 10 free ounces of froyo! I cashed in after winning a Twitter contest last week. It might not be pretty, but it sure was good.

And in regards to the blissmobox contest…

Congratulations to Jeff, comment #5, for winning the blissmobox giveaway! Very soon you will have one box of organic, eco-friendly snacks headed your way.

And, dear reader, so you don’t go away empty handed…a few local news items:

Pan-Asia prix-fixe dinner
Pan-Asia is having a prix-fixe dinner by a special guest chef on Friday, July 22 and Saturday, July 23. It’s $30 for three courses, view the menu on the Pan-Asia website.

Mississippi Craft Beer Week Events
July 23-30 has been announced as Mississippi Craft Beer week. There are a variety of fun events and special meals planned for Jackson and across MS. See a schedule of events on the Raise Your Pints website.

Bayou Teche beer dinner
The Parker House is having a Bayou Teche beer dinner on Thursday, July 28. It’s $45 per person for four courses, view the menu on the Parker House website. I went to a similar event last year, read my recap of the Lazy Magnolia Beer Dinner.

Yazoo Brew beer dinner
Parlor Market is have a four course Yazoo Brew beer dinner on Monday, July 25. It’s $60 per person for four courses, view the menu on the Parlor Market facebook page. (You must be signed in to Facebook.)

PM Taco
Not related to Craft Beer Week, but also of interested…Parlor Market is also transforming into PM Taco, a taqueria and cantina on Monday, August 8. View more information and the local bands playing on the Parlor Market facebook event page. (You must be signed in to Facebook.)

Downtown after Dusk

Lumpkins BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich, the best meal deal

After work last Thursday, the husband and I meandered downtown to partake in the music, food and atmosphere at the latest Downtown at Dusk.

While wandering around we found it peculiar that the crowd was huddled together in a small area within blocked off streets, but quickly discovered this was due to limited amounts of shade. It’s hot down here in Mississippi in the summer.

Scoping out the food tents, we settled on splitting a Reuben Dog from Parlor Market and Pulled Pork Sandwich from Lumpkins BBQ. Pulled pork was the dish of choice, at least three vendors were offering a version of this sandwich. Having never eaten at either restaurant I was excited to get a tiny taste.

The only hot dog I’ll eat is a Nathan’s Famous, which was the base of the Reuben Dog sprinkled with pastrami bits, sauerkraut, and comeback sauce. It was kind of strange to eat pastrami with a hot dog, but it worked.

The Pulled Pork sandwich was huge, dripping with meat and topped with a generous scoop of coleslaw and drizzle of barbeque sauce. The meat was smokey and tender, but the sauce was oddly sweet reminding me of apple butter. The sandwich came with a bag of chips for $5, adding on $1 for a Diet Coke made it a great meal deal.

We were situated on the lawn of the Old Capitol Museum and headed inside for some relief. It’s a lovely building I had never been in before and was a welcome break from the heat. Maybe it should change to Downtown after Dusk.

Learn about downtown Jackson events and the next Downtown at Dusk on the Jackson Now! website.