Chickpea and Feta Tomato Pasta Sauce

I recently saw an interesting recipe for chicken and feta tomato pasta sauce and decided to modify it to be vegetarian. I'm not a fan of fake meat substitutes so I tend to substitute pulses for meat; I use chickpeas here, which I'm not normally in the habit of eating with pasta, and it worked really well.

Courgette (Zucchini), Asparagus and Feta Cheese Galette

Spring is here at last and so my cooking habits shift from soups and stews to quiches, tarts, and summer pies. I have had a bit of a gallete obsession recently (though unfortunately haven't blogged some of my wonderful creations) and wanted to make one that felt very in season. So I opted for courgettes and asparagus, and added in some feta cheese. Yum!

Spinach and Feta Muffins

I have been experimenting with savoury snacks recently in quest to find home made food which is easy to feed my daughter on the go. I experimented with a few different muffin recipes to little success before making these, which are a lovely consistency and very tasty. I lowered the salt content for my daughter so you might want to up it slightly, though the feta will add some saltiness to them. 

 

Olive and Basil Feta Cheese Spread

A lovely and quick dip/sandwich filling which is super easy to make. The original recipe was double the quantity but I halved it. If you are using as a dip for a gathering, you could double the quantities below. The original recipe called for Kalamata olives but I used black olives because I am cheap, so just use any colour olive you prefer.

Lentil and Feta Meatless Balls

This week I have tried two cooking experiments: polenta chips and these lentil and feta meatless balls. The polenta chips experiment was a disaster (I am going to have to have a few more attempts before they become blog ready), but these meatless balls turned out perfectly. They went down very well with both my partner and our six month old daughter who couldn't get enough of hers; we gave her half a ball and ended up having to give her more as she complained when it was all gone (about half in her mouth and half on the floor, I have to admit). The balls are baked and will crisp up on the outside but are still soft on the inside. I stirred them into a tomato sauce to eat with pasta, but you could have them with any sauce you wanted; just be careful not to vigorously over stir into a sauce as they may collapse, or you may want to serve directly on a plate and simply pour a sauce on top of them.

I used tinned lentils to save on time and to avoid any issues with over- or under-cooking the lentils, but you could use dried lentils if you want. If so, just cook until soft but not falling apart, and allow to cool before making the balls. I also omitted adding any additional salt as the feta is salty and I was feeding them to my daughter, but you might want to add a bit of salt to taste.

Pasta with Leek, Butternut Squash and Feta Cheese

This was a random 'oh I have some odds and ends in the fridge that need using up' recipe of mine, which turned out quite nicely. I added in the feta cheese at the end of cooking as I wanted relatively large chunks of feta in my sauce, but you could cook the feta into the sauce if you preferred.

Quinoa with Roasted Butternut Squash, Leeks and Feta

I've never cooked with quinoa before, so I was feeling a bit apprehensive about making this dish. I needn't have worried though as it tasted delicious. The addition of the feta cheese was very nice but if you wanted to make this dish a bit healthier you could omit it with no problems whatsoever.

Red Onion, Feta and Olive Tart

This recipe comes from one of my random vegetarian recipe books and is a firm favourite in my house. Apart from the caramelizing of the onions, the rest of the tart requires virtually no prep whatsoever (especially as I usually use pre-rolled puff pastry). Green or black olives will do just as well in this recipe, so use whatever you prefer/can get your hands on. It's also great cold for lunch the next day.

Feta Cheese Summer Frittata

This is my first attempt at making a frittata, and it turned out really well. I used feta cheese in this, but any cheese you fancy will do; goats cheese would also work well, I think.

For best results, you want to use a dish which can be used on the hob as well as in the oven (such as a cast iron ceramic dish), and I've written the instructions with this in mind. Don't panic if you don't though, as I actually didn't have one to hand when I cooked this, so I fried everything in a pan and transferred it to an oven dish. It turned out fine, but the bottom of the frittata was not as well set as I would have liked.

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas and Feta

This is a quite simple, throw some stuff together and roast it recipe, so it's minimal effort. I modified this recipe from a chicken based dish I found over on the BBC's good food site. I quite liked the idea of trying out roasted chickpeas and I would definitely recommend it as it turned out great. They become quite crunchy on the outside but are soft in the middle which adds an unusual (in a good way!) consistency to the meal. The recipe called for harissa pasta which I didn't have, so I found a substitute recipe online. It was very spicy however so if you like things less spice, tone down the chilli content. Finally, props go to Pete as on the day I planned to cook this, I was very ill, and he cooked it for me and even let me annoy him half way through to take a picture for the blog.

 

Sweet potato, feta and pine nut pie

This pie is one of my 'I have some odds and ends that need using up so I'll just try make something up' recipes. The filling definitely has a wow factor (for me) and all the flavours really worked well together. I'm not entirely convinced as to the pastry - as you may be able to tell from the photos, I did not make enough so the 'lid' was not entirely closed! I've estimated how much would be better and changed the amounts here. In fact, I think it would be better - instead of having a full enclosed pie - to just add the filling straight to the dish, and top with a store bought puff pastry 'lid'. This would also make things easier.

Beetroot and Feta Quiche

Quiche tends to take quite a bit of time, but I find it is always worth it. I had an urge to cook with beetroot, since I really like it but don't ever cook with it as have never been sure what to do with it. Anyway, I decided quiche would be a good place to start experimenting with it, and it turned out great. I bought ready cooked beetroot from my local supermarket; make sure you don't get pickled beetroot if you also do this. I'd recommend it as it's far easier than cooking the beetroot yourself. A note: beetroot juice leaves the mother of all stains so be careful when chopping it! I had some shallots from the garden which I used, but you could just use a regular onion. If you have any leftovers, it'll make an awesome lunch cold.