Time: 15 minutes plus marinating time
Complexity: easily
Servings: 10 - 12

Meze is a large platter with numerous smaller portions of various appetizers, traditionally served with wine or other alcoholic beverages. This type of appetizer platter is traditional in the eastern Mediterranean: Turkey, Greece, Libya, and the Balkan countries. Appetizers vary slightly across these regions. Prepare, for example, a Greek meze. It will feature Greek feta cheese marinated with herbs. Olives are a must-have. Top the platter with roasted peppers, dolma, hummus, and pita chips for dipping.

Ingredients:

Meze

• 6 roasted red peppers, store-bought
• 8-10 stuffed grape leaves (dolma)
• 1 cup hummus
• 1 tbsp. pine nuts, roasted
• Olive oil
• Toasted pita chips, for serving, see recipe below
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• Marinated feta cheese, see below

Marinated feta cheese with herbs

• 700 g Greek feta, drain and cut into 1 cm thick slices.
• 1.5 tsp dried thyme
• 0.5 tsp dried fennel seeds
• 0.5 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 0.5 cups green olives with pits
• 0.5 cups olive oil

Toasted pita chips

• 4 pita breads

Substituting ingredients
Measuring containers used

1 glass (st.) - 250 ml.
3/4 cup (st.) - 180 ml.
2/3 cup (st.) - 160 ml.
1/2 cup (st.) - 125 ml.
1/3 cup (st.) - 80 ml.
1/4 cup (st.) - 60 ml.
1 tablespoon (tbsp) - 15 ml.
1 teaspoon (tsp) - 5 ml.
1/5 teaspoon (tsp) - 1 ml.

Recipes with similar ingredients

feta cheese, hummus, grape leaves, thyme, pine nuts, fennel seeds, olive

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Preparation:

Step 1
• Arrange the marinated feta, roasted peppers, and stuffed grape leaves beautifully on a platter, and set aside a small bowl filled with hummus. Sprinkle the hummus with pine nuts and drizzle with olive oil. Top the platter with pita chips and arrange sprigs of thyme on the peppers.
  
  Toasted pita chipsPreheat oven to 175°C.
  
  Cut the pita into 8 triangles and place them on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven and toast the pita for 10 minutes.
Step 2

• Marinated feta cheese with herbs

  
  In a small bowl, combine dried thyme, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes. Arrange the feta slices, overlapping, on a 22 x 22 cm square serving platter.
  
  Sprinkle the feta with the entire herb mixture. Place sprigs of thyme and olives between the feta slices. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with 0.5 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Serve at room temperature.

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