Food Columnist: Two gorgeously Greek recipes that use versatile feta cheese

Deborah Ratcliffe regularly contributes recipes to the Press and Journal’s food and drink magazine, The Menu. Here she shares two ways to use feta

Greek feta cheese with its distinctive, creamy, lightly acidy/tangy salty taste is usually made from sheep, or a mixture of sheep and goats’ milk, although it can also be bought made from cows’ milk.

It’s normally bought pre-packed in slabs or ready-cubed in jars of oil, often flavoured with herbs or with olives, and can be quite salty with a real sharpness to the flavour.

I regard it as one of my staple cheeses, mainly because it’s so versatile.

For example: simply crumbled straight from the packet over a salad; as an essential ingredient in the traditional Greek spanakopita recipe – a delicious marriage of spinach, feta and filo pastry.

It’s also perfect for quick delicious nibbles – halved baby cherry tomatoes, speared on cocktail sticks, alternating with robustly flavoured black olives and a cube of feta.

Or spear cubes on a cocktail stick, add a Parma ham roll and a slither of basil and serve with marinade from the jar drizzled over and some cubes of bread to mop it up.

Salmon with feta and pancetta

(Serves 2) 

Ingredients

• 10 roughly chopped black olives
• 200g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 flat tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 250g skinless salmon fillets, cut into 2.5cm pieces
• 50g feta cheese roughly crumbled
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 slices pancetta

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
2. Add the olives, tomatoes, tomato puree and sugar to a casserole dish.
3. Lightly season and mix well together.
4. Add the salmon pieces then crumble over the feta.
5. Drizzle with olive oil.
6. Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the fish is just cooked.
7. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan until hot.
8. Add the pancetta, quickly cook on both sides till crispy.
9. To serve, place the fish in a serving dish and crumble the pancetta over the top.

Oven-roasted tomatoes with feta and olives

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 6 ripe tomatoes
• 1 tsp fresh chopped thyme leaves
• 1½ tsp sea salt flakes
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 150g feta cheese marinated in oil with black and green olives

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 240C/gas mark 9. Oil a shallow baking tray with a little oil.
2. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the seeds and the inside membrane.
3. Pat dry then place cut side up on the tray. Drizzle over 2 tbsp of the oil.
4. Sprinkle over the thyme, salt and a good twist or two of pepper.
5. Roast for 15 minutes then turn the heat down to 150C/gas mark 2.
6. When shrivelled to roughly half their original size remove from the oven then cool.
7. To serve, cut each of the half tomatoes in half.
8. Place in a deep serving dish, add the olives, feta and seasoning to taste.
9. Toss around well and drizzle over any remaining oil.