Thursday, August 17, 2006

Marinated Feta & Chocolate Brownies

Inspired by Bloggers who've been Inspired by Other Bloggers

2006 recipe for how to make herb marinated feta

Sometimes I have food in my fridge or my pantry that I don't have any particular plans for. A quick surf through my RSS reads can be like putting the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle. Exactly the thing I need to make, I want to make, I am inspired to make pops on the page as if it had been put there specifically for me.

This happened to me no less than twice this week and I was delighted with the results, which in both cases were achieved without me having to leave the house to purchase ingredients. I already had everything to hand.

Marinated Feta:

I'd had some feta languishing in the fridge since the Blogathon when I'd made Crostini. I'd also bought a bunch of sage but only had use for half of it, so when I saw this post from Chef Paz, I was inspired to marinate my cheese. She, herself, had been inspired by another blogger, Haalo at Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once, so this great recipe is making the rounds, with little tweaks and changes happening with each rendition. The beauty of this recipe is that it is easily adaptable according to any suitable ingredients you have to hand.

Here's my Version:
Cut feta into chunks and place in bowl.
Add shredded fresh herbs, sage, basil and thyme.
Add one finely sliced paprika chilli.
Add one mild garlic clove, sliced wafer-thin.
Add 5 lonely, abandoned green cured olives.
Season generously with freshly ground pepper.
Carefully stir all ingredients together.
Pack into a jar, cover with olive oil and leave for a few days for the flavours to develop. Yum. Also delicious when used to stuff a freaky tomato.

Haalo added the following tips:
The general advice is to leave it a few days to allow the flavours to intermingle - if you make in the morning, you could eat it at night but it won't be as complex as one left a few days. I would try to use it up within two weeks. You can if you like, place the herb and cheese mix into a sterilised jar, cover with oil and seal for a more longer life product.
This really is the type of recipe that is highly adaptable - from choice of cheese, be it goat, sheep or cow fetta to choice of herbs and spices.


Thanks, Haalo and Chef Paz!

2006 recipe for how to make martha stewart chocolate brownies

Chocolate Brownies:


I am not sure I'd ever made Brownies before, maybe once a long, long time ago, but after seeing this mouthwatering picture on alice q. foodie I knew I had to put on my pinny and get baking. Alice, herself, had been inspired by seeing the Brownies over at Gourmetish. This Chocolate Brownie recipe is actually from Martha Stewart and it works really well with a couple of caveats. The first is that Martha suggests that after baking the brownies in an 8" square tin that you "cut into 8 rectangles". That's daft. Cut into 16 squares and you have twice as many Brownies. And anyway, aren't Brownies meant to be square? Secondly - these Brownies seem to improve with age, so try not to eat them all in the first 24 hours!

Thanks to Alice, Gourmetish and Martha.



PS. Dear Paris Hilton, you are pathetic.


Archive Alert! Discovering St Benoit Yogurt. Now available in local Wholefoods.


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Marinated Feta & Chocolate Brownies

24 Comments:

  • At 17/8/06 11:00, Blogger wheresmymind said…

    First off...I loved you "PS", second..I read your blog title quick and was sorta grossed out by "Marinated feta chocolate browines" glad to know you didn't combine ;)

     
  • At 17/8/06 13:30, Blogger Julie said…

    I love how the right blog/recipe pops up just when you need it. Great brownie photo!

     
  • At 17/8/06 15:17, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I have to admit I thought at first "do feta and chocolate go together?" I guess they do in your post! Totally delicious shot of the brownies!

     
  • At 17/8/06 16:14, Blogger Catherine said…

    Wow! I'm on my way over now-yum!

     
  • At 17/8/06 17:14, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    here here on the photo compliments! I love the brownie tower! Yum!

     
  • At 17/8/06 18:27, Blogger cookiecrumb said…

    I'm playing that same game of blog-food tag, only mine's going to be Bea's ratatouille that Kalyn was inspired by a few days later...
    But then again, who wouldn't be making a ratatouille in the middle of August? :D

     
  • At 17/8/06 21:17, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I've never made brownies. They look so good I must.

     
  • At 18/8/06 00:42, Blogger Alice Q. Foodie said…

    Hey there, thanks for the link! I am rather proud of that picture. The brownies were almost as good as they look (could have done with a bit darker chocolate). I'm now onto Susan's recipe for Tomato Pie on Farmgirl Fare. Soooo good!

     
  • At 18/8/06 00:44, Blogger Alice Q. Foodie said…

    And by the way, that's a spectacular picture of the jar of feta...

     
  • At 18/8/06 06:07, Blogger Cupcake Queen said…

    Love your photography! and the recipes....yummm

     
  • At 18/8/06 10:57, Blogger Cate said…

    The picture of the feta looks divine ... feta and olives are two of Nicholas' favorites; we'll definitely be making this one soon!

     
  • At 18/8/06 11:24, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hey Sam!

    At first I was like, "Marinated Feta in brownies? Wow. And here, I thought my chipotle chile in brownes was weird, and yet, effective...."

    A few seconds later, I caught that you were blogging two separate recipes.

    Oh, yeah! Duh!

    Brownies are fun--and you should make more of them. and I agree with you and disagree with Martha--brownies should be cut small. Why? Because if you do them right, they will be very moist and intensely flavored and that means you don't need more than a couple of bites.

    Most of my brownie recipes are very rich and strongly flavored, which means if I cut them huge like some folks do, they would be overwhelming and way too much to eat at once.

    Besides, I would rather leave someone longing for more than slogging through the last bite thinking, "This is too much...."

     
  • At 18/8/06 13:28, Blogger Amandarama said…

    Oh dear. Now I think we have to have brownie sundaes for dinner...maybe some tawny port to go with...

     
  • At 18/8/06 15:04, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Love it! So true about being inspired by other blogs too--- I probably use an "inspired recipe" at least twice a week.

    Ok and I love you for the post script to Paris Hilton. I think that about 100 times a day.

    -Darla
    www.messycucina.blogspot.com

     
  • At 19/8/06 08:36, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I didn't know you could marinade feta. What a great idea. Thanks! And brownies – oooo la la – I had almost forgotton what they taste like until I saw your mouth watering photo. I'll have to make them tonight.

    I know I'm totally out of the loop living way over in Paris, but what did Paris Hilton do this time?

    Bisous,
    Ms. Glaze

     
  • At 19/8/06 13:35, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    What a GOOD idea! I live in Feta-ville and I never thought of this..
    In Astoria (5 minutes from Bloomingdales BTW) you can easily get 8-10 kinds of Feta. Goat is a good one to try out...very creamy and not as salty if you can find it. Anyway I better try this PDQ
    THANKS!
    ParisBreakfasts

     
  • At 19/8/06 13:39, Blogger Sam said…

    wmm - i never thought of them being combined, bt it looks like that is how a lot of people read it. oops

    julie - yes - and even better still when it not only pops out, but turns out good too!

    anita - the feta is a bit garlicky for the brownies I think?

    catherine - too late they have all gone (I did give a big portion of the bronies away to stop me eating them all)

    L - thank you - i wish I hadn't eaten it all now!

    Cookie - now is a good time, mybe I should make one next week. I have a recipe I like.

    Barbara - not made enough brownies to know if this is the best recipe ever, but it certainly wasn't bad.

    Alice Q - indeed it was your picture that totally got me at first glance.

    Cupcake Queen - thank you and thank you again for dropping by to say hello.

    Cate - I am not sure how much he likes garlic and spice - you might want to go a little easier on those ingredeints. Hope he likes it.

    Barbaraf - yes - totally agree - especially as these are made with melted chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger 62%) they are indeed very rich.

    Amandarama - great idea - why didn't I think of SUndaes before I had eaten them all?

    Anon - you are doing better then me on the inspiration front, it was unusual for me to have two in one week. Who knows when it will happen again.

    Ms Glaze - actually she didnt do anything in particular, I just happen to see her speak on TV for the first time and when she opened her dumb mouth it was painful to watch. She really thinks she can do all these things - sing, dance, act, model, design blah blah etc, and she just doesnt get it that the only fact she has these opportunities at all is simply because she was born filthy rich. She bought her way to fame and she could do with a right good humbling in my opinion.

    she doesnt care what I think. so what.

     
  • At 19/8/06 14:41, Blogger Farmgirl Susan said…

    Love the idea of marinated feta--looks yum as well as pretty. Love brownies, too, of course, but already knew about those. : )

     
  • At 19/8/06 20:14, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This feta looks just so summery. Vibrant colors that make me want to dive in!

     
  • At 20/8/06 08:30, Blogger Kevin said…

    Sam,
    I've got some mild feta (it was all the store had at the moment) that's barely worth eating. Marinating it is a great idea.

     
  • At 20/8/06 15:07, Blogger *fanny* said…

    Wow these brownies look SO SO good!

     
  • At 22/8/06 09:30, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    wonderful post - i was just thinking about doing something similar as i picked a jar of feta up from the farmer's market at the weekend and thought it would be nice to expand and add some of my favourite herbs.....so thank you - good timing!

     
  • At 24/8/06 10:48, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I don't know whether to love you or hate you for putting up pictures of those brownies!! I was compelled to make them last night with GREAT success. oh me oh my.

     
  • At 29/8/06 09:13, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    When I read the title of this post, I thought you were baking chocolate brownies with marinated feta in them! I couldn't quite get my head around that idea. I'm glad they are two seperate recipes, although now you are tempting me to go ahead and bake those chocolatey devils!!

     

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