Htipiti Whipped Feta and Red Pepper Spread with Toasted Pita

Add the feta and ricotta to a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, use an electric mixer or a whisk. Pulse until well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Then puree for 30 seconds more until the mixture is whipped and slightly larger in volume. Add the red pepper, honey, and black pepper to the whipped cheese. Turn on the processor and slowly pour in 2 teaspoons of olive oil until well combined.

Place the whipped feta spread in a serving bowl and drizzle with the remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Grate half of the lemon zest with a Microplane or citrus zester over the top. Sprinkle with the chives. Serve at room temperature with the pita bread pieces.

Background:

Htipiti is traditional Greek feta cheese spread that means “beaten” in Greek. It’s just as fun to pronounce (ch-tee-pee-tee) as it is to spread on fresh vegetables and warm pita bread. Serve it on a grazing board with a few other noshes like our Honey-Roasted Pecans with Thyme and Spicy Sweet Quick Pickles

Healthy Kitchen Hack:

We tested both types of feta in this recipe: crumbled feta and block feta. Generally, we prefer the creamier texture of block feta, but in this recipe, there wasn’t a big taste difference. If you want to reduce the amount of sodium in your recipes though, use block feta, as you can rinse away some of the salted brine with running water. Crumbled feta is coated in a powdered plant fiber (cellulose) to prevent clumping, so the rinsing trick doesn’t work.

Excerpted from EASY EVERYDAY MEDITERRANEAN DIET COOKBOOK © 2020 by Deanna Segrave-Daly and Serena Ball

and Publisher Houghton Miffin Harcourt