Tag Archives: Feta

Sep23

Baked sweet potato with feta and olives

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My mother in law sent this recipe in the mail. If you like sweet potato and feta (which I love), then this recipe is for you.  

Ingredients

4 smallish sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup Kalamata olives
1 cup coriander leaves roughly chopped
200g feta cheese roughly crumbled
1 red chilli chopped or to your taste
1 tsp fennel seeds roughly ground
1 tsp cumin seeds ground
1 tsp coriander seeds ground
1 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/4 olive oil for dressing

Method
Place the sweet potatoes on a lined baking sheet. Prick them a couple of times ( to stop them from exploding in the oven). Lightly oil them and season well. Roast in a 200 deg C oven till tender – about 40 mins.
Meanwhile combine olives and coriander in a small bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl combine feta and remaking ingredients. One the sweet potatoes are cooked, slice it lengthwise, season. Spoon in a portion of feta mix and top with olive and coriander.

Tip: Cut the sweet potato into cubes and then roast add baby spinach and cherry tomatoes to turn this into a salad.

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Feb11

Homemade Pizza

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Over the last 6 months, I have been trying my hand at baking sourdough bread thanks to my friend Ronnie, and I do turn out a kick ass sourdough.  Baking great bread does take a lot of experimenting, and I started this process at a more intermediate level because I had a friend handy to teach me.  Anyway I would like to bake different types of breads so I am starting again at a basic level to get a better understanding of yeast, flours etc.  This is a pizza recipe which tastes fab using basic dried yeast.  I will share my experiments with baking bread moving forward. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Ingredients 
140 ml water lukewarmOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups unbleached white bread flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
7g dried yeast

NB: Makes one 30 cm/12 inch pizza

For the filling
2 tbsp sun-dried tomato pesto
1 tbsp tomato paste 
150g mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/2 pun net cherry  tomatoes roughly chopped
1 small yellow pepper halved and sliced
50g prosciutto torn into pieces
8 fresh basil leaves
2 large garlic cloves
50g feta cheese crumbled
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
30ml grated Parmesan cheese

Method
Cream yeast and sugar, add lukewarm water, let stand 10 minutes or until bubble a appear on the surface. Sift flour and salt in bowl, makes well in centre, add oil and yeast mixture. Mix to a firm dough by hand.
Turn dough onto a floured surface, knead for 10 minutes or until dough is smooth
Place in a lightly oiled bowl , cover and stand in a warm place for 30 minutes or until dough has doubled in bulk. 
Knock back, punch down gently on lightly floured surface. Roll out pizza dough into a 30 cm round. Place in prepared pan. Mix sun-dried pesto and tomato paste and spread on pizza base. Arrange two-thirds of the mozzarella on top. Scatter with chopped tomatoes, pepper strips, prosciutto, feta, whole basil leaves and garlic. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Bake at 220 deg C for 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden and crisp.

Dec4

Roasted Beetroot and Spinach Salad

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Roasted Beetroot and Spinach Salad

Ingredients

  • 4 beet roots peeled and quartered
  • 2 bags baby spinach
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 – 2 tsp butter
  • 1 block Greek feta
  • Olive oil
  • Walnuts or toasted pinenuts
  • Thyme
  • Balsamic vinegar

Method
Rub beetroot with olive oil and thyme and season to taste. Roast 200 deg C for 25 to 30 mins or until cooked.
Heat butter, add sliced garlic and cook for 30 secs. Add spinach and sauté  for 2 mins, season to taste.
 Arrange spinach  on a platter.  Scatter roasted beetroot on top of the spinach. Crumble feta over the beetroot and top with walnuts.  To finish drizzle balsamic vinegar from a height(as Jamie Oliver’s would say).

Oct17

Chorizo and Asparagus Frittata

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This is a large frittata that serves 6 people. I have only ever made frittata in the oven.  I use different ingredients, each time I cook this so i will try to post the different combinations.

Ingredients

  • Fritata1 Chorizo
  • 1 bunch Asparagus
  • Generous handful of baby spinach
  • 1 large chilli
  • 1/2 tsp garlic
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 8 eggs
  • 1/4 cup tasty cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup Feta cheese
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
  • 20g butter
  • 1 tsp Olive Oil
  • Dash of Paprika

Method

Apply a generous amount of melted butter onto your baking dish.

Dice Chorizo into 2 cm pieces. Cut each Asparagus into 3 pieces.

Heat a dash of oil in a frying pan and cook Chorizo until it is browned.  Transfer to a plate and set aside. Remove fat/oil and wipe pan clean, add a small amount of butter and  place pan back on heat, add Asparagus, garlic and chilli and cook for 1 min, add handful of spinach and remove from heat.

In a large bowl, crack 8 eggs, add milk, cream,paprika, cheddar cheese,  and 1/2 the parmesan cheese. and mix. Season to taste. (Chorizo and Feta are salty so please be extra careful with salt).

Add Chorizo, Asparagus, garlic, chilly, and spinach to the eggs, mix gently – pour into baking dish.  Place pieces of feta cheese into the mixture, Sprinkle top with remaining parmesan cheese.

I also put small dollops of butter in the mixture 10g tops – this is not necessary but it does add to the flavour.

Bake in a moderate oven – 180 deg C for 25 – 30 mins, till frittata is firm and just slighty wobbly in the middle.

Tip: 15 mins into cooking turn the dish around so you get an even colour on the top.   As you can see from my photo I forgot to do that.