Marinated Feta & Chocolate Brownies

Inspired by Bloggers who've been Inspired by Other Bloggers



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!



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.

Food | Recipes | Baking | Cheese | Cooking

Marinated Feta & Chocolate Brownies