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Jim Dixon wrote about food for WW for more than 20 years, but these days most of his time is spent at his olive oil-focused specialty food business Wellspent Market. Jim’s always loved to eat, and he encourages his customers to cook by sending them recipes every week through his newsletter. We’re happy to have him back creating some special dishes just for WW readers.
If you need something delicious in a hurry, you can ignore both the “herby” and “roasted potatoes” part of this and just make the whipped feta. The low effort dip makes almost anything taste good, and we’ve been eating its basic ingredients—feta cheese, yogurt and olive oil—for thousands of years. Toss them into a food processor and you’ll be dipping in a couple of minutes.
Whipped feta goes with cooked or raw vegetables, any bread-like substrate from pita to bagel to cracker, and that classic Greek snack, tortilla chips. Tavernas from the rugged Balkans to the turquoise waters of the archipelago often include a spicier version called tirokafteri on their mezze table, so feel free to enhance your dip. If, like the ancient Greeks, you don’t have the requisite appliance, a fork, bowl, and some effort will whip it good (with apologies to Devo).
Recipe
8 oz feta cheese, preferably sheep’s milk in brine
½ cup plain Greek-style yogurt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil + 2 tablespoons for the potatoes
2–3 cloves garlic
Handful of fresh herbs such as parsley, mint, basil and/or oregano
2–3 lbs potatoes*
*I prefer unpeeled yellow potatoes but any will work; cutting them into quarters speeds cooking and provides two flat surfaces that brown nicely.
Put the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a 9 inch skillet (or a sheet pan, but you may need a little more oil) and arrange the potatoes in it skin side down. Roast at 400F for 10 minutes, then flip onto a flat side. After another 10 minutes flip to the other flat side and cook for 10 more minutes or until the potatoes are nicely browned and very soft in the center.
Drain the feta and process it with the yogurt, olive oil, garlic and herbs until smooth. Since the cheese is salty, taste before adding any salt. Serve alongside the hot potatoes.
