|
 When people talk about feta cheese, they usually mean feta, a spicy, creamy, salty sheep's milk cheese that has a wide variety of uses and plays a large role in Mediterranean cuisine. Along with feta, there are various types of cheese that are made from sheep's milk or from mixtures with the addition of cow's or goat's milk. Among them are such famous cheeses as Spanish machengo or Italian pecorino. Due to the content of sheep's milk, cheeses get a brighter and spicy taste than cheeses with only the addition of cow's milk.
But the most famous feta cheese is, of course, feta. Cheese made from sheep's milk has a creamy but firm texture, usually pressed into blocks and stored in brine.
The feta trademark, by the way, is protected in the European Union, so only brine cheeses made in Greece from sheep's milk can be called so. Other types of feta cheese are commercially available, such as Balkan, shepherd's or "fetapo" cheeses, and can be made from different types of milk. The delivery of feta cheese is especially important in Turkish, as well as, of course, in Greek cuisine, in the homeland of feta. We are accustomed to eating feta sliced in salad, baked and spread on bread.
Baked feta
It does not matter what to cook feta in: in the oven, on the grill or on the fast food, in any case you will get a very tasty dish. Lovers marinate spicy cheese for several hours in olive oil with Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary, thyme or sage, then add aromatic spices: onion, garlic or chili. It will also be very tasty if you add some vegetables to your taste to the grilled cheese: tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and so on. In the oven, feta can be baked in foil or served directly in a baking dish with vegetables.
Cheese can be considered ready when its texture becomes creamy-soft, but the shape still holds. You can use pita bread for baking in the oven or on the grill. Thus, the pleasant aroma is absorbed into the crispy toasted bread. Also, in a frying pan, you can cook many goodies from feta cheese. It is very easy to fry a whole piece of feta or sliced cheese in breadcrumbs and then bake in vegetable or ghee. Then the feta cheese will retain its creamy core, getting a crisp crust, while it is perfect for fresh lettuce.
Not less for feta cheese as a dip sauce or a snack spread on bread. Flavored with spices, oregano, garlic or paprika and supplemented with chopped olives, nuts or dried tomatoes, cheese is offered in Turkish and Greek gourmet shops and in regular kiosks and market stalls.
But, of course, you can cook this delicious dish at home, chopping the feta cheese with a fork and adding yogurt to taste, cottage cheese, cottage cheese and various seasonings to taste. The process will go even faster if you mix all the ingredients and heat them with a puree mortar. The sandwich appetizer can be thickened, and you can add more yogurt or even a little milk to the sauce to get the consistency you want. Lavash, baguette or even coarse rye bread are perfect for this sauce. Sheep cheese can also be served with an aperitif and, of course, at any Mediterranean buffet table.
E.A. Mironov
|
