I knew I used to be on to a superb factor when my new take a look at kitchen colleague Katja Tausig began speaking about and cooking with feta. For a workforce whose mantra would possibly properly be “Every little thing’s higher with feta!”, her enthusiasm, and need to dedicate an entire column to this briny, tangy, salty cheese, meant that the match was full. So right here’s to welcoming Katja and to celebrating feta: crumble it, bake it, blitz it, stuff with it, showcase it.
Baked feta and dill frittata (pictured high)
If ever there was a solution to characteristic feta, it’s this frittata, the place a block of the cheese sits completely within the center. I think about it a breakfast dish, nevertheless it additionally works simply in addition to a summer time lunch or as a part of a picnic unfold.
Prep 5 min
Prepare dinner 20 min
Serves 4-6
8 giant eggs
Wonderful sea salt and black pepper
200g feta
50ml olive oil
1½ tsp cumin seeds, coarsely floor in a mortar
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped (180g)
120g child spinach
45g dill, finely chopped
¼ tsp aleppo chilli
½ lemon, reduce into 4 wedges
Warmth the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gasoline 4. Break the eggs right into a medium bowl, add a half-teaspoon of salt and a superb grind of pepper, whisk properly and put aside.
Use a ruler to measure the thickness of the block of feta – if it’s thicker than 1½cm, fastidiously trim it right down to this thickness and crumble any offcuts into the egg combination. Maintain the remainder of the feta block entire.
Place a small (roughly 17cm-wide), nonstick, ovenproof saute pan on a medium-high warmth and add 45ml oil. As soon as it’s sizzling, add a teaspoon of cumin, cook dinner for a minute till aromatic, then add the chopped onion and a quarter-teaspoon of salt and cook dinner, stirring sometimes, for 3 minutes, till the onion is translucent. Stir within the spinach and all however a tablespoon of the dill, and cook dinner for 2 minutes, till the spinach has wilted and the dill is aromatic.
Pour the crushed egg into the pan and stir to mix with the onion, spinach and herbs. Nestle the feta within the centre of the egg combination, so it’s three-quarters submerged, then drizzle the remaining teaspoon of oil and the remaining half-teaspoon of cumin excessive. Switch the pan to the oven, bake for Quarter-hour, then take away and switch the oven grill to its highest setting. As soon as the grill is sizzling, pop the pan on the highest shelf of the oven closest to the grill and cook dinner for 2 minutes till the frittata is golden brown and the highest of the feta barely colored.
Utilizing a spatula, launch the frittata from the underside of the pan, then fastidiously slide it on to a serving plate. Sprinkle over the remaining dill and the aleppo chilli, and serve heat or at room temperature with the lemon wedges on the aspect.
Feta-stuffed koftas with grilled peppers
Yotam Ottolenghi’s feta-stuffed koftas with grilled peppers.
You possibly can marinate the peppers and form the koftas a day forward, in case you like, leaving simply the grilling to be finished earlier than serving. Serve with rice or roast potatoes and a recent inexperienced salad.
Prep 15 min
Prepare dinner 45 min
Serves 4-6
6 inexperienced çarliston peppers, or one other sort of lengthy, pointed pepper comparable to romano (360g)
1 tbsp white-wine vinegar
1 lemon, zest finely grated, to get 1 tsp, and juiced, to get 1 tbsp juice, the opposite half reduce into 4 wedges
Wonderful sea salt and black pepper
1 small onion, peeled and quartered (120g)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
25g recent coriander, chopped, plus 2 tbsp additional, finely chopped
400g lamb mince (at the least 15% fats, ideally)
25g panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp floor cumin
½ tsp aleppo chilli, plus additional to complete
¾ tsp paprika
180g feta, reduce into 8 equal squares
2 tbsp olive oil
Put a big frying pan for which you will have a lid on a excessive warmth. As soon as sizzling, lay in the entire peppers and weigh them down with a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Char for 5 minutes on either side, then take off the warmth and put aside till they’re cool sufficient to deal with. Put 5 of the peppers in a bowl, add the vinegar, lemon juice and a pinch of salt, and go away to marinate. Put aside the pan for now.
Pull off and discard the stem from the remaining pepper, then put the pepper within the small bowl of a meals processor with the onion, garlic and 25g chopped coriander. Blitz to a easy paste, then scrape into a big bowl and add the lamb, panko, lemon zest, cumin, aleppo chilli, half a teaspoon of paprika, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a superb grind of pepper, and blend properly to mix.
Divide the lamb combination into eight 70g balls. Put one ball in your hand and flatten it to make a disc. Place a sq. of feta within the centre, then wrap the meat round it to encase the cheese. Form the kofta right into a torpedo form, squeezing the ends in order that they’re barely pointed. Repeat with the remaining lamb combine and cheese.
Put the oil in the identical frying pan on a excessive warmth, then, as soon as it’s sizzling, put within the koftas, ensuring they’re spaced properly aside (if the pan isn’t sufficiently big, you could have to fry them in batches). Prepare dinner the koftas for eight minutes, turning them each two minutes, in order that they cook dinner andcolour evenly. Add the remaining quarter-teaspoon of paprika, cowl the pan and go away the koftas to cook dinner for 2 minutes extra, till cooked via.
Switch the koftas to a platter. Spoon two tablespoons of the oil from the frying pan into the pepper bowl, add half the remaining chopped coriander and stir to mix. As soon as they’re cool sufficient to the touch, tear open the koftas and spoon the marinated peppers excessive of them. Sprinkle over the past tablespoon of chopped coriander and a beneficiant pinch of aleppo chilli, and serve with the lemon wedges.
Spring salad with buttermilk feta dressing
Yotam Ottolenghi’s spring salad with buttermilk feta dressing.
All the varied parts right here could be ready prematurely and put collectively simply earlier than serving.
Prep 10 min
Prepare dinner 25 min
Serves 4-6
300g new potatoes (about 6-8), scrubbed clear
100g frozen (or recent) peas
100g frozen (or recent) broad beans
2 child gem lettuce, reduce lengthways into 6 wedges
½ tsp aleppo chilli flakes
10g pecorino (or parmesan), finely grated
For the feta dressing
120g feta, crumbled into roughly 2cm items
1 tsp pink peppercorns, calmly crushed in a mortar
140ml buttermilk
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon, zest finely grated, to get 1 tsp, then juiced, to get 4 tsp
Wonderful sea salt and black pepper
For the herb oil
10g mint leaves
20g parsley leaves
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely grated
60ml olive oil
Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan with sufficient properly salted water to cowl them by about 3cm. Deliver to a boil, then flip down the warmth to medium and simmer for 10-Quarter-hour, till the tip of a knife goes via them simply. Add the peas and broad beans to the pan, cook dinner for an additional two minutes, then drain, rinse beneath chilly water to cease the veg cooking any extra, then put aside to empty.
In the meantime, make the dressing: put all of the elements bar the lemon zest in a small bowl, add a half-teaspoon salt and toss to mix.
Put all of the elements for the herb oil, an eighth of a teaspoon of salt and a superb grind of black pepper in a meals processor, blitz till finely chopped, then pour into a big bowl and add the newborn gem, peas and broad beans. Calmly smash the potatoes in your fingers, add these to the bowl, too, then toss to coat.
Switch the salad to a big platter, however maintain again a couple of tablespoons of the peas and broad beans. Drizzle the feta dressing all around the high, then scatter on the reserved peas and broad beans. Sprinkle on the chilli, lemon zest and pecorino, and serve at room temperature.
