This was a bit of an experiment. We had a piece of feta cheese, and as I don’t like it greatly “raw” I wondered if it could be successfully baked. Well the intertubes think it can, and they’re right. What follows is a glorious bastardisation of several “Greek style” recipes, including one by Jamie Oliver. It worked well, was substantial and tasty.
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 35 minutes
Serves: 2 as a main course, 4 as a substantial starter
You will need …
- 200g block feta
- a quantity of tomatoes (I used about 20 whole cherry tomatoes and a couple of plum tomatoes cut into 6)
- 1 tin chickpeas, drained
- 2 banana shallots, each cut into 6
- 10-12 black olives
- 5 cloves of garlic, chopped (optional)
- a few sprigs of thyme
- olive oil
- black pepper
- pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
- juice of half a lemon
What I did …
- Heat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C.
- Put the tomatoes, garlic, shallot, chickpeas and thyme in a small baking dish.
- Stone the olives and add these to the dish.
- Chop/break the feta into pieces – I cut mine into 9, but break it down more if you wish.
- Drizzle over with olive oil, lemon juice, chilli flakes, and season with freshly ground black pepper; mix together gently.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, covered with foil for about half the time.
- Serve with hot baguettes.
And it won’t get swamped by a good bottle of red wine.