Do you have a tub of feta in your fridge? How about some olives?
Quickie homemade spicy olives: Toss olives with sliced garlic, lemon zest and fresh thyme sprigs and allow this to marinate in the brine in the fridge in a tub.
This makes a fabulous snack with drinks, and the olives take on so much of the flavour.
I love Calamata olives cooked in a pasta sauce, so feeling inspired by Greek flavours, I made this delicious recipe. Its super-easy!
Recipe | serves 4 – 6 as a snack | easy to make | 45 mins
1 T olive oil
2 – 3 garlic cloves crushed
1 tin of tomatoes
3 T wine (optional)
1 t of chopped oregano (or dried)
salt and pepper to taste
200 g feta (I used Simonsberg plain feta)
a handful of baby tomatoes (I used rosa)
a handful of Calamata olives
Heat the olive oil in a pan and gently saute the garlic.
Add the tin of tomatoes before this goes brown.
Add the wine and the oregano and cook for about 20 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
*Remember to pre-heat your oven to 180 C (350 F) about halfway through the making on the sauce.
Break the feta into medium sized chunks and arrange in an appropriate sized oven dish.
Cover with the sauce and spread this around to evenly distribute.
Dot the tomatoes and olives in between all these and bake for around 25 minutes until the sauce is heated through and the feta is lovely and soft.
Serve this with crusty bread scooping the sauce on. Quite delicious.
If, and I say if you have any left over, this makes a fabulous topping on a pizza, as a pasta sauce or spread onto a wrap, with chicken as a bake-in sauce and rolled up with all manner of fillings.
Pasta sauce:
To make this into a pasta sauce – add an extra tin of tomatoes
and then cook as per instructions and stir this through penne (I think a short
noodle will be best).
Pan fried chorizo would also be amazing to add to the sauce – slice, pan-fry and then stir through.
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