Home Made Feta, Bean Herb Salad and Stuffed Pesto Feta Mushrooms

If you had read the previous post you will know that I have been making cheese over the Christmas break and you can find a recipe for Feta Cheese here.

As well as a simple Greek Salad I turned my feta into this lovely bean, herb salad which was the perfect accompaniment for a summer BBQ, albeit our summer at the moment is quite questionable. We also enjoyed stuffed field mushrooms with pesto and feta for breakfast one Sunday morning and definitely a dish I could eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

I am also very excited about my Camembert which is maturing nicely and look forward to introducing you to that soon. What shall I make with it or should I eat it au natural? It was made with un-pasturised milk so I am convinced it will be special, very European I hope as the Kiwis do not yet make un-pasturised cheese even though it is now permitted to produce here. Correct me if I am wrong and you have found an New Zealand un-pasturised cheese, I will gladly hunt it down.

Ingredients
Makes enough for 4 side salads
2 cup broad beans, frozen
1 cup garden peas, frozen
250g Feta cheese, chopped into squares or crumbled
Handful parsley and mint, finely chopped
Tbsp capers, chopped
Zest of one lemon
Juice of half a lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to season

Method
Blanch the broad beans as per instructions on packet and then drain and plunge in ice water. Drain completely.
Rinse the garden peas in cold water only, they don’t require cooking.
Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and combine.
Serve chilled.
Goes well with fish, chicken or just on its own.

I have given the approximate ingredients per portion for a guideline on purchasing but it’s really a recipe where a bit more or less of one thing will not matter, it’s all about preference and tasting as you go.

Ingredients per portion
2-3 field mushrooms
1 tsp of pesto per mushroom, recipe here
1 tsp feta cheese per mushroom, crumbled
1 tsp olive oil per mushroom
Cracked black pepper

Method
Combine the pesto and feta together in a bowl.
Place the mushrooms on a baking tray, I used my individual oven proof frying pans.
Spoon pesto/feta mix over the mushrooms.
Drizzle with olive oil
Bake in oven for 20 minutes
Place mushrooms on serving plates and garnish with cracked pepper.