Feta Marinated with Herbs and Chilli

Feta Marinated with Herbs and Chilli is a cost effective starter that tastes as delightful and elegant as it looks and takes minutes to prepare.

When I entertain, I typically put out an antipasto or mezze spread as a starter. I love cheese, but when I’m hosting for 20 people I can’t really afford to provide a spread of French bries and Buffalo Mozzarella. But I also feel like I need to do better than slapping down a block of tasty cheese.

So I often serve up this Feta Marinated with Herbs and Chilli which is really cost effective, looks so fresh and pretty and tastes fantastic. In Australia, feta is good value and you can get it prepackaged or by weight at delicatessens. I use feta in a lot in things like salads, stuffings and omelettes but I don’t eat it plain or on crackers because I find it too sharp. At least, this is the case with ordinary cow’s milk feta. Deluxe feta, like Persian Feta, is creamier and less salty and delicious eaten as is. Instructions

• Infuse olive oil with garlic (optional): use the side of your knife to smash the garlic cloves and combine with the olive oil. Cover, refrigerate and leave for as long as possible - a few hours or preferably overnight.

• If you do not have the time to do Step 1, just mince 1 garlic clove (small) and stir into the olive oil.

• Cut the feta into bite size cubes - about 1cm / 1/3 inch.

• Place feta into serving dish, scatter over herbs, chilli, lemon rind and a grind of black pepper.

• Pour over olive oil. Serve with crusty bread.

Recipe Notes:

1. Danish feta is a creamy type of feta that is almost as creamy as cream cheese and is spreadable. This recipe is also suited to Greek feta (which is harder and more crumbly) but I prefer to use Danish feta so it can be spread on bread. 2. You can make this ahead by placing all the ingredients into an airtight container and storing it in the fridge for a week. While this infuses the feta with better flavour, I prefer to assemble it on the day as the herbs are fresher. Over time the herbs in the oil will lose their colour - even left overnight they are not quite as bright.