Feta cheese

Feta is a white brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece with goat’s and sheep milk. It is salted and cured in a brine solution (based on water or whey) for several months. Feta cheese can range from soft to semi-hard, with a tangy, salty flavor that can range from mild to sharp. The cured cheese easily crumbles and dries out rapidly when removed from the brine.

Feta cheese is first recorded in the Byzantine Empire (which expanded over the East Mediterranean), under the name prósphatos meaning “recent”, i.e. fresh, and was associated specifically with Crete.

The Greek word “feta” comes from the Italian word fetta (“slice”) and that from Latin offa “bite, morsel”. It was introduced in Greek in the 17th century, likely referring to the method of cutting the cheese in thin slices to serve on a plate.

1 red/yellow sweet pepper
1 clove of garlic
3 black olives
3 cherry tomatoes (or 1-2 larger tomatoes)
1 oz feta cheese (you could also use halloumi, blue cheese or mozzarella)
1 teaspoon olive oil
black pepper
fresh basil (I didn’t have any but I think it would have been nice)

• preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190C/fan oven 170C
• cut the pepper in half through the stalk and remove the seeds
• slice the garlic and divide between each pepper half
• halve the olives and the cherry tomatoes and place 3 halves in each pepper half
• slice or crumble the cheese into small bits and squeeze between the tomatoes and olives
• season with pepper (plenty of salt already in the olives and the cheese)
• add a couple of torn basil leaves and drizzle over the olive oil
• roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes till starting to go brown at the edges (I added the asparagus 10 minutes before the end and it was perfect)

Chanukah, the Festival of Lights

Food that is traditional at Chanukah is usually something fried – often latkes or doughnuts (YUM). This is because of a miracle involving oil, which is one of a number of miracles which happened during the Maccabees’ rebellion.

The most remembered miracle is that when the Maccabees came into their temple which had been desecrated, the everlasting light (this is a light which is on at all times in all Jewish synagogues) only had enough oil left for one day. The miracle was that the oil lasted eight days which is why the festival of Chanukah lasts for eight days and it is traditional to light an increasing number of candles on each of the eight nights.

But the true miracle of Chanukah is that the Maccabees won their battle against the Greeks despite being hugely outnumbered.

675 g/1.5 lb potatoes
2.5 oz onion peeled and roughly chopped (grated if no food processor)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of pepper
4 level tablespoons self raising flour (4 tbsps plain flour + pinch baking powder)
flavourless oil (eg sunflower) for frying

• Grate the potatoes (food processor is much easier) then place in metal sieve to drain excess liquid.
• Mix the rest of the ingredients till smooth and then add the grated and drained potatoes (if using a food processor, pulse the potatoes into the rest of the ingredients until you have a coarse pulp).
• In a heavy frying pan pour in oil to a depth of half an inch (1.25 cm) and heat.
• When the oil is hot, place in tablespoons of mixture, flattening each with the back of the spoon.
• Cook over moderate heat up to 5 minutes on each side until rich golden brown and cooked through.
• Drain on crumpled kitchen paper then eat.
• If you can resist eating them, they can be frozen and reheated at a later date either by shallow frying, deep frying or in a hot oven (gas mark 8/450F/230C) for 7-8 minutes till crisp.