As a celebration of our new range we thought it appropriate to give you a delicious, simple recipe to compliment the perfect setting.  Open that bottle of bubbly and serve one of my favorite meze’s made from feta and peppers served on a classical wooden board.  Serve the meze with ready made pita breads which you either warm on a sandwich toaster or quickly dry cook in a frying pan on the stove.  If you are feeling brave, make your own.  They are really simple to do.  I will post a recipe in the next couple of days on how to make them.

Once warm, cut the pita breads into triangles and brush over with a tiny bit of olive oil using a pastry brush and some crushed salt.  Be sure to take one of our small bowls and mix together some olive oil, a little bit of crushed garlic, a pinch of salt and if you like a bit of a bite, add some dry or fresh chilli  for dipping the bread. You can also use ciabatta or even a french loaf cut into diagonal slices which you can toast in the oven and brush some olive oil and salt over. You can make this a few hours before and let it stand at room temperature.

Next onto the meze. This is so quick and easy to do and can be made up to a week in advance.

Feta and Pepper Meze

Ingredients

lemon

1 clove garlic (sliced)

small tub Danish feta (you can use normal feta if you prefer, this is just creamier)

fresh rosemary sprigs (3 or 4)

fresh thyme (8 sprigs)

cup of olives (preferably without pips)

salt

Method

1. Use a potato peeler cut wide strips of lemon zest and place in an airtight container
2. Add the sliced garlic, rosemary and thyme. Keep one sprig of rosemary for the top
3. Cut the feta into blocks and add
4. Add the olives
5. Pour the olive oil over and mix lightly
6. Add salt to season to your liking
7. Close the airtight container and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours

Roasted Red Peppers

Ingredients

2 or 3 red peppers

1 clove garlic (crushed)

tsp of origanum (dry)

1/4 cup olive oil

      Method

1. Turn oven onto 240 degrees
2. Wash the peppers, dry, cut them in half, remove the seeds and cut the bottom round piece away
3. Place onto a baking tray lined with baking paper open side down
4. Place in the oven and roast for approximately 40 minutes.  You will know when they are ready as they will go soft, puffy and nicely charred
5. Place in either a glass or stainless steel bowl and cover with clingwrap to allow them to sweat
6. Once slightly cooler peel the outer skin off which should come off really easily and cut into thin strips
7. Place into a small bowl, add garlic, any juice left in the bowl, tsp origanum and about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Enough to keep them moist.

Assembly is easy.  Place the feta on a serving board using an egg flip so as not to mix the olives as the colour can run. Scatter the peppers on top to finish off. Lay the pita bread on one of the corners together with the small bowl of olive oil and chilli.

The peppers are delicious the next day on a sandwich or even heated as a vegetable for dinner.

Happy Celebrations, the Gratitude Gifts team