A Long Line Of Talented Cooks BY: GLYNDA PHILLIPS Cooking is one of Heather Dolan’s favorite pastimes. In fact, she hails from a long line of talented cooks, having learned from her mother, who in turn learned from hers. “My mother and grandmother use many of the old recipes, and you can’t beat them,” Heather said. “Anything made from scratch is always better. My mother is known for her fried chicken, but she also makes delicious homemade biscuits. “One thing she makes that she got from my grandmother is her Sessum’s Cheese. She takes hoop cheese, butter and one egg and cooks them together in the oven. We eat that with one of her homemade biscuits, and it is always fabulous.” (See the accompanying recipes.) Considering all of this, it should come as no surprise to learn that Heather’s pimiento cheese spread recently placed first in the appetizer category in a recipe contest sponsored by Mississippi magazine. Versatile Recipe “My mom told me I needed to enter the contest,” Heather said, recounting how she came to submit her recipe. “She pushed me to do it. When they called and let me know that I was a finalist, I couldn’t believe it. When they told me I had won first place in my category, I was so excited. “
“My mother and grandmother use many of the old recipes, and you can’t beat them.” – HEATHER DOLAN
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Heather developed her unique take on a traditional Southern comfort food while looking for foods that she and her husband, Jody, could take with them camping. They have camped in almost every state park in Mississippi plus parks in other states.
“When you go camping, you need lots of quick and easy foods that can be made in advance and that will keep for two or three days. I also wanted to come up with my own pimiento cheese spread because I don’t care for a lot of mayonnaise. I wanted something different.” Heather’s recipe includes three cheeses – sharp cheddar, pepper jack and cream cheese – plus sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic powder, salt, pepper and, of course, pimientos. (For the complete recipe, see the May/June 2013 issue of Mississippi magazine.) Heather has since found different ways to use what started out as simply a great sandwich spread. “Jody wanted to see what would happen if we melted the spread like a fondue,” she said. “So we melted it in the microwave, and it was really good.” Heather also rolls the spread into a cheese ball, which she covers with roasted pecans. She serves it with pepper jelly, and it is delicious. “You can dip the spread in an egg wash mixture, roll it in bread crumbs and panko bread crumbs and deep-fat fry it,” she said. “It is really good. To eat, you simply dip it in Captain Rodney’s Sweet and Sour Sauce.” The most recent idea was to use the spread as a stuffing in hamburgers. “I take two thin hamburger patties and place a little more than a teaspoon of pimiento cheese between them. As I fry the burgers, the spread doesn’t leak out. It stays right in there, and it is delicious. I call it my Juicy Lucy hamburger.”
Seasoning a Skillet In addition to cooking, Heather enjoys collecting cast iron skillets and handmade wooden spoons. “I love to cook with cast iron, and I find that if you season a cast iron skillet correctly, it works just as well as any Teflon product.” Here are Heather’s tips for seasoning a cast iron skillet: • Spray the skillet with a nonstick cooking spray like PAM or rub it down with vegetable oil using a paper towel. • Set your oven at the lowest setting and place the skillet in there for three hours. Heather sets her at 175 degrees. • Let the skillet cool then wipe it down and use it. • Spray it with a cooking spray after you clean it every time, and that keeps it seasoned.
Heather and Jody run commercial cattle and grow hay on their Jasper County farm near Louin. Jody also works for the Mississippi Board of Animal Health, and Heather is a staff auditor with the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor. They have one child, Macy, 2. The Dolans are past members of the Young Farmers & Ranchers State Committee, where Heather served as secretary. They have been named regional YF&R Achievement Award and Excellence in Agriculture winners.
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