When she opened her first independent restaurant, Lola’s, chef Suzanne Cupps knew she wanted the concept to reflect her personal experiences of growing up. The New York City restaurant is a tribute to her grandmother (lola is the word for grandmother in Tagalog), her own youth spent in South Carolina, and the journey of developing her culinary skills over a decade of cooking in some of New York’s most loved restaurants — all things that shaped her. Lola’s is not strictly a Filipino restaurant or a Southern restaurant, but strikes a balance between the different facets of Cupps’ identity.
And one thing you can’t divorce from a Southern upbringing is pimento cheese dip. “I grew up in the South and Southern food is very familiar to me,” Cupps explains. She added her version of a pimento cheese ball to the opening menu of Lola’s not just because it felt on-theme, but because she herself loves to eat it.
The pimento cheese ball is not like pimento cheese dip as you know it. “Most pimento cheese recipes are with mayonnaise or cream cheese as the base and some kind of shredded cheese,” Cupps says. “For me, of course I eat aioli and mayonnaise but the idea of eating a big glob of mayonnaise at the beginning of your meal is not what I wanted.”
Instead, Cupps swaps out the mayonnaise and cream cheese for a whipped ricotta base that maintains a silky texture. From there, she grates cheddar sourced from Vermont, uses piquillo peppers in places of pimento, and adds silk chile flakes from Burlap and Barrel. Using quality ingredients is key for Cupps — no pre-shredded American cheese here. So is making sure the ricotta is well-whipped; if it’s not, the dip can take on a gritty, almost curdled texture.
At Lola, Cupps serves her cheese ball with a side of crunchy vegetables, buttery flax seeds, and toasted pecans she sources from Georgia. “I toast them with olive oil, salt, and sorghum syrup,” she says, adding that honey or maple syrup are worthy alternatives. “It’s an additional thing you can do that adds a slight caramelized flavor and crunchy texture,” she explains. And because the cheese ball is made with whole-milk ricotta rather than mayonnaise, it’s sturdy enough to also be used in sandwiches and atop burgers.
“It’s a very versatile recipe and it’s going to be good if [you] follow the instructions,” Cupps says. “It’s not so technical that you couldn’t do it at home.”
Lola’s Pimento Cheese Ball Recipe
Adapted from chef Suzanne Cupps
Serves 4-6 as an appetizer
Ingredients:
1 pound whole-milk ricotta cheese
4 ounces jarred piquillo peppers, drained (you can also substitute jarred pimento)
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon chile pepper flakes, finely ground
14 ounces shredded sharp or aged white cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
⅓ cup (2 ounces) pickled jalapeños, seeds removed, chopped (optional)
Hot Sauce, to taste (optional)
Instructions:
Step 1: In a food processor, combine the ricotta cheese, drained piquillo peppers, salt, smoked paprika, and chile pepper flakes. Process the mixture until smooth, about 1-2 minutes, turning off the machine and scraping down the sides as needed with a rubber spatula to make sure all the cheese is incorporated.
Step 2: Put about half of the cheddar cheese in a large mixing bowl, and the other half in the food processor with the whipped ricotta. Pulse the food processor until the cheddar is barely combined with the ricotta, 5 to 10 pulses.
Step 3: Using a rubber spatula, scrape out the ricotta mixture and add it to the bowl with the shredded cheese.
Step 4: Stir in the chopped jalapeños if you’re using them and add your favorite hot sauce if you like it spicier. Taste the mix and add more salt if needed.
Step 5: To shape the mixture into a ball, chill it for 1 hour first. Once it’s shaped, coat with toasted or candied pecans. Keep refrigerated until ready to eat. Serve with your favorite crackers or crudite.
Dina Ávila is a photographer living in Portland, Oregon.
Recipe tested by Ivy Manning
