Pimento cheese is king in the south! Well maybe next to our amazing BBQ, but both are certainly delicious. Muddy Creek Cafe, located in the piedmont triad here in North Carolina, makes an amazing pimento cheese sandwich, called the New South Pimento Panini. Fresh, homemade pimento cheese on grilled, crispy bread with spicy bacon and tomato.

I picked up some pimento cheese the other day at Muddy Creek, because God bless them, they sell it in several different sizes to take home. I don’t have a panini press but my George Foreman grill was perfectly sufficient.

I cooked up a couple of slices of bacon, sliced up some artisan tomatoes, lightly buttered up some bread, and assembled my sandwich. While mine doesn’t have their special, magic touch but it’s a delicious way to enjoy some Muddy Creek Cafe pimento goodness at home.

 

Ingredients:

Your preferred bread: 2 slices

1/2 a medium tomato or several small artisan tomatoes

2 slices of cooked bacon

1 oz of pimento cheese

 

1.  Prepare the bacon. I use a skillet to cook mine on the stove until crispy.

2. Set aside cooked bacon on a paper towel to soak up excess grease. Now is also a good time to preheat the panini press or George Foreman grill.

3. If you’re using a medium size tomato, cut two thin slices. For smaller tomatoes such as artisan or cherry, cut 4 or 5 of them in half.

4. Spread a small amount of room temperature butter on the outside of each slice of bread. These will be the sides that will come in contact with the plates of your grill/skillet/panini press (whichever you are using).

5. Time to assemble the sandwich! Spread the pimento cheese onto the bottom slice of the bread. Place the two tomato slices or sliced artisan tomatoes on the pimento cheese then add the bacon. Add the top slice of bread and now it’s time to put it in the panini press or George Forman grill.

6. The grill or press should be preheated by now. Place the sandwich in the middle and gently close the lid. I always wear an oven mitt when opening and closing mine just to be on the safe side.

7. After about a minute, the sandwich should be nice, crispy, and have some griddle marks on it. Carefully remove the sandwich with a spatula, allow it to cool before cutting in half. Serve with a pickle and enjoy!