Exploring the Potential of Feta

Yeah, I know, feta is regularly featured in Greek salads, and also in a lot of omelets. Both are excellent, and I eat 'em regularly. But the point for me is there's so much more to feta than those two classic dishes. And I'm not talking about made up stuff--I don't think Ferran Adria, with all due respect, has deconstructed the Greek salad yet into roasted pepper foam (sorry, I'm just back from Spain so I've got it in my mind).

I don't want to make too much noise about this, but I'm not really sure why feta has stayed so accessibly priced when other sheep cheeses (with their very low yields and the bad dollar/Euro exchange) have shot up so much in recent years. But, all I really know is that it is both affordable and excellent!

There's feta with tomato sauce. Creamy, delicious with a slightly salty tang that melts (a little or a lot depending on how well integrated you want it) in the sauce. Easier still, when the good tomatoes start coming in this summer, you just cut up chunks of 'em, toss with some salt, some feta cubes, some fresh herbs (I like basil, thyme and/or mint), some olive oil, and let it stand for a bit. Then toss with hot pasta. When it's really at the height of the summer heat, this uncooked sauce is excellent. Cool. Easy. Good.

Let's see... there are all sorts of other options too. Scrambled eggs with crumbled feta and a bit of pan-fried broccoli (I like it with the edges of the broccoli slightly browned) and some roasted peppers. Years ago I came on a Persian recipe that used it with spaghetti and lentils, spiced with cumin. It's delicious. It's traditional in Greece to eat feta with polenta (bobota) and in spreads.

There are dozens of borekas (traditional phyllo dough pastries) filled with feta and various other fillings. For dinner it could be a dish of baked shrimp, tomatoes and feta. Get fresh shrimp, sauté 'em in the shell, remove, make a tomato sauce in the same pan, toss with pasta and some feta. It's also great with olive paste, or with finely-chopped, long, hot green chiles. It's excellent with garlic and herbs. I really like it crumbled on a salad of spring arugula along with fried capers and olive oil.

Okay, then there's the most obvious of all and the easiest which is the Greek tradition of just putting a slice (the name "feta" actually means "slice" after all) out on a plate to eat with just about anything and everything. And, in this vein, there's definitely the marination thing: good olive oil, good feta cut into cubes, good herbs of your choosing and a couple hours to a couple days of time for the flavors to meld.

To my taste, great feta should also be appearing regularly on cheese boards. It's fantastic with fruit; I love the slightly salty richness of the cheese when it's set against the sweetness of ripe fruit. In Greece you'll often have it served with watermelon, which I'm sure sounds strange but really is fantastic (along with a little fresh mint--it's really great!). Again, it's delicious with dried fruit--dates, pears, apricots, raisins, currants, or figs. The creamy texture of the cheese on the tongue works amazingly well with the dense texture of the fruit.

Ending here, I'll take you back to the beginning of a good day of feta eating. If you go to Greece don't be surprised if you're served feta for breakfast. It's quite common that thick slices of it would be cooked 'til warm in a frying pan along with a couple of sunny side up eggs and wedges of fresh tomato, a sprinkling of sea salt and few flakes of red pepper.

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