In honour of all of this rain, I decided to bring Friday forward, just by a day! This is a lovely, quick little dish which is on the table in less time than it takes to let your bottle of red breathe. We lived in Greektown in Toronto for a few years (hello everyone!!) and had a wonderful time there – not least because of the variety of all of the food. We tasted saganaki which was a greek dish of baked cheese, sometimes flamed with honey and a variety of different flavourings. The restaurant we tried it in would set it on fire – quite the spectacle – but the real treat was in the taste. Oozy, warm, tasty … you get the picture. Now, there are limits as to what I can try to emulate here, so gazing upon my lump of feta, I thought simple might be better! Serve this with crackers, toasted, sourdough or pita and you’re all set. It’s divine. We gorged on a measly leftover half a pack of cheese this evening (it was an emergency after all), but a pack would generously serve two to three hungry people with bread, veggies and wine!
Baked Feta
1 packet of Feta, patted dry with some kitchen paper
2-3 tblsp of olive oil
2 tblsp of honey, gently warmed in the microwave
pinch of dried thyme
Black pepper to season as desired
selection of toasted bread/crackers/warmed pita and crudites to serve
Preheat your oven to 200C. Pop your whole piece of cheese into a small ovenproof dish, lined with baking parchment. Drizzle the oil over and sprinkle the thyme on top. Bake in the oven, until soft, but watch closely so that the cheese does not melt or go gooey, just letting it soften up. This will take approximately 7-8 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your grill to a high setting. Take the cheese out of the oven and spoon the oil over the cheese and then brush the warmed honey over the cheese.
Grill for a few minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbly. A word of warning! Do not let your baking parchment go on fire. Just saying!! Serve with your carbohydrates of choice!
