Spicy Feta Cream
Appetizers Quick Recipes Simple Recipes Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Recipes Cheese Greek
It was a vacation of firsts. For the first time, I ate raw pepper. And I liked it! I still can't eat it plain, but anyway... I ate it in a spicy cheese cream in Thessaloniki.
On our way to Skiathos we stopped for a day there to catch our breath after 16 hours of driving. We were going to sleep in an apartment on Agiou Dimitrou street and as we got out of the car we saw the "O Kostas" taverna, specialized in pork souvlaki. I ordered a portion with spicy cheese and grilled pita. The cheese seemed divine from the first bite. What a surprise to find that instead of rejecting the pepper, I wanted more. It was as if the feta had reversed its unpleasant taste (that's how I perceive peppers) and transformed it into something addictive for my taste buds.
Now maybe I'm being too enthusiastic, but you understand, it's a totally new experience, a totally new taste. After that I looked for the same taste in the tavernas of Skiathos, but I couldn't find it. There tirokafteri was prepared with paprika or roasted pepper and chili flakes (it was pinkish, not white) and it didn't seem as special to me. In fact, I posted the tirokafteri recipe 2 years ago, in which I used green hot pepper but roasted and it was different. The raw Bulgarian pepper however gave it exactly the taste I was looking for, the taste from Thessaloniki. The perfect taste...
Ingredients
150g feta (or sheep or goat cheese)
50ml extra virgin olive oil
1 semi-hot Bulgarian pepper (approx. 15-20g)
Servings: 2
How to prepare spicy feta cream
- Since the recipe has only 3 ingredients, make sure they're all of the best quality. Choose a good feta, but a creamy-crumbly cheese is also wonderful (don't use rubbery or very salty cheese in this recipe!). The olive oil should be sweet, fruity, not the bitter kind.
- Put the cheese in a food processor and blend until well crumbled (about 1 minute). Gradually add the oil, only until the cheese "binds" and there are traces left around the blade. You shouldn't make a too-soft cream, it should be slightly spreadable but firm enough to stay on a knife.
- Clean the pepper of seeds and stems. Chop it as finely as you can. Add half the pepper over the cheese and blend for another 15 seconds. Add the rest of the pepper and blend briefly (2-3 seconds).
- Serving: place the cheese in a bowl, drizzle with a little oil and if you wish sprinkle some oregano. It's great with pork skewers (souvlaki) and grilled pita.
Finely chopped hot pepper
Blended cheese
