Baked Feta with Pumpkin Seeds, Honey & Crispy Cumin Pittas Recipe, by Genevieve Taylor
by Genevieve Taylor
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Easy
When you quickly bake feta you are rewarded with the most amazing texture,kind of squishy and almost mousse-like – perfect for scooping up with crunchy pitta toast! As an absolute cheese addict, I would quite happily eat this all by myself for dinner with salad and not much else, but it’s also great as a sharing plate with some other dishes.
Extracted from How to BBQ, Genevieve Taylor (Quadrille, £25.00) Photography by Jason Ingram.
Ingredients for Baked Feta with Pumpkin Seeds, Honey & Crispy Cumin Pittas Serves: 2
- 1 x 200g feta block
- 25g pumpkin seeds
- a good pinch of dried oregano
- a pinch of chilli (red pepper) flakes (optional)
- a drizzle of olive oil
- 1 tbsp runny honey
- freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients for Cumin Pittas
- 2 pitta breads, quartered
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- a pinch or two of chilli (red pepper) flakes (optional)
- sea salt flakes (kosher salt)
How to Make Baked Feta with Pumpkin Seeds, Honey & Crispy Cumin Pittas
- Fire up the barbecue ready for direct and indirect cooking using a two-zone setup. You won’t need much fuel but you will need a fairly high heat so open your air vents up.
- Put the feta into a small tin or frying pan (skillet) and sprinkle over the pumpkin seeds, oregano and chilli flakes (if using). Drizzle over a little olive oil and a generous seasoning of black pepper.
- Spread the pittas out on a baking sheet. Drizzle over the olive oil and turn the pieces over to coat. Sprinkle with the cumin seeds, chilli flakes (if using) and a generous scattering of sea salt flakes.
- Set the tin of feta just off to the side of the fire. Rest the pieces of pitta on the grill bars over the fire and grill on both sides to toast. Once toasted, slide to the other side so they keep crisping up away from the direct heat.
- Shut the lid of the barbecue and let the feta bake for about 5 minutes. Lift the lid and rotate the tin so it cooks evenly, shutting the lid for another 5 minutes. It should be soft and squishy by now; if you’d like a little more colour, slide the tin over the direct heat for a minute or two to allow the base to caramelise.
- Drizzle with the honey and serve hot off the grill with the pitta toasts to scoop up the cheese.
About the author
Genevieve Taylor, a BBQ and live fire expert, has penned thirteen cookbooks, including bestsellers like 'Charred,' a vegetarian BBQ guide, 'The Ultimate Wood Fired Oven Cookbook' and 'Foolproof BBQ.' An omnivore, she challenges the typical meat-centric BBQ narrative. Her latest hit, 'Seared,' focuses on quality meat and fire. Her upcoming release, 'Scorched' (Spring 2024), will complete a trilogy dedicated to cooking fish and seafood over fire.
