Nothing says Mediterranean like Baked Feta With Olives and Onions.
Broiling the cheese makes it creamy and sort of toasty.
Serve with warm Pita triangles or baguette slices. For gluten free you could spoon it on to lettuce cups or even cucumber rounds.
You can serve this as an appetizer - either on individual plates or you could put it on a platter and let people help themselves.
I served it with a Dinner Roll, a Beet Pickle and this light and fluffy Beet Gnocchi in Rosemary Butter and it made a lovely light lunch.
One word of caution - this can easily get to be too salty with the feta and the olives. I found rinsing the brine off the feta was necessary to tone down some of the saltiness. Whatever you do -DO NOT add salt to the dressing!
Wine Pairing for Baked Feta With Olives and Onions
This dish if very flavourful and distinctly salty and briny with the olives and feta. Something crisp with some salinity sensation would work well. In keeping with the Greek roots a cold, crisp Assyrtiko would be perfect. If that is not easy to source look for a Muscadet Sèvre et Maine or Sauvignon Blanc from Touraine. Or go all out for a Sancerre!
Baked Feta with Olives and Onions
Ingredients
- 2 ½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon caraway seeds
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 8 oz feta cheese, rinsed cut into 4 ½" thick squares.
- ¼ cup red onion sliced thinly, vertically
- ¼ cup Kalamata olives pitted and rough chopped
- fresh dill sprigs for garnish optional
- Baguette slices or pita triangles for serving
Instructions
- Toast caraway seeds in a small dry saucepan over medium heat. (About 5 minutes. As soon as you can smell them you can remove them from the heat).
- Preheat oven to 450°.
- Blend the vinegar, olive oil, pepper and caraway seeds in a blender and set aside.
- Spray a non-stick baking pan. Put cheese squares on the sheet and bake about 5 minutes until warm through. Take cheese out of the oven and turn oven to broil. When ready broil cheese until the top gets crusty and golden brown. (About 5 minutes). Be careful not to burn.
- Divide vinaigrette between 4 small plates. Place the cheese on the vinaigrette, top with onions and olives and dill garnish if using. Serve with bread or pita.
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