Sun Dried Tomato Feta Spread

So let me tell you the story behind this Sun Dried Tomato Feta Spread. This past summer (which feels like AGES ago, sadly),  Aldo and I went to a free outdoor concert to see Nickel Creek and Secret Sisters. The concert was at the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn. We sat next to a couple that does outdoor concerts the right way – they brought a ton of picnicking food with them. Not just simple sandwiches, but all kinds of appetizers, dips, spreads, crackers, veggies, and they even brought wine in a thermos! These people were way more prepared than we were.

I tried not to make them uncomfortable by eyeing their food the whole time, but at one point I couldn’t resist – they took out a container of something I couldn’t identify. I’m nosy – I asked the man what it was and he said a word I’ve never heard of before. After seeing my confusion, he explained that it was a feta spread, and they had two different kinds with them – a sun dried tomato version and an olive version.

Boy, that sounded good!! I immediately turned to Aldo and said “I HAVE TO MAKE THAT SOMETIME.”

 

Months passed by and I haven’t forgotten about wanting to make this. (I keep a list of things I want to cook, I’m kind of a nerd like that).

Finally I remembered to get feta cheese just to make this. I decided to start with the Sun Dried Tomato Feta Spread (because Aldo is an olive hater). This recipe uses 1/2 of an 8oz block of feta cheese, which means that I have enough feta to make the Olive version soon too (all for myself!). But here is the Sun Dried Tomato recipe. It really couldn’t be simpler. There is no actual cooking involved.

We ate this with sliced radishes, and it somehow worked really well together. Radishes are usually a bit bitter (but in a good way, if that makes any sense?), but since this spread is so flavorful, you couldn’t detect any of the bitterness. We made tiny little radish-feta-spread sandwiches by putting a bit of the spread in between two radish slices.

This would be awesome spread on other veggies, and would probably be amazing with crackers or spread toasted crusty bread.

Here’s a money saving tip: Buy your feta cheese in a block, not crumbled. It is much cheaper, and perfect for this recipe, since you’ll be putting it all in a food processor anyway.

By the way, if anyone knows what this spread is traditionally called, please leave me a comment! For now, it is called a Sun Dried Tomato Feta Spread.

Sun Dried Tomato Feta Spread

Makes: 1/2 cup (4-6 servings, depending on how much self control you have). Total time: 5 minutes.

• 4 oz feta, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup tightly packed sun dried tomatoes**
• 1 tablespoon tightly packed parsley leaves
• 1 small garlic clove
• 4 tablespoons olive oil**
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

**Notes: I used dry sun dried tomatoes. If yours are packed in oil, you can use a bit less olive oil in this recipe.

1. Combine all ingredients, except for the feta, in a food processor. If you have a small food processor, it would be perfect for this. Process for several seconds until the sun dried tomatoes are about the size of bacon bits. You might have to stop and scrape down the sides several times – for some reason my parsley really wanted to stick to the sides.

2. Add the feta cheese and process for a few seconds until everything comes together in a delicious feta spread.

3. Serve with sliced veggies, crackers, or on toasted crusty bread.

I separated this into 3 steps because I wanted to make this look like a legit recipe, but in reality, it’s pretty much one and a half steps. Blend some ingredients, and then blend them some more with feta. Simple!

 

What are your favorite 5 minute appetizers?

If you know what this feta spread is called, please enlighten me!