Feta Cheese Beggars Pouches Recipes

BEGGARS' PURSES

Steps:

• Make crêpe batter:
• Melt butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat and set aside 2 tablespoons for cooking crêpes. Continue to cook butter remaining in skillet until it has a nutty fragrance and is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Blend brown butter with remaining crêpeingredients, except chives, in a blender until smooth. Add chives and pulse 1 or 2 times to just combine. Let batter stand 30 minutes.
• Blend brown butter with remaining crêpe ingredients, except chives, in a blender until smooth. Add chives and pulse 1 or 2 times to just combine. Let batter stand 30 minutes.
• Blanch whole chives:
• Blanch chives in a small saucepan of boiling water 10 seconds. Drain and plunge into an ice bath. Pat dry.
• Make crêpes:
• Lightly brush skillet with butter, then heat over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Stir batter. With skillet off heat, add a scant 1/4 cup batter, tilting and rotating skillet to coat bottom. (If batter sets too fast, reduce heat slightly.) Cook until golden around edges, 15 to 30 seconds. Loosen with a heatproof plastic spatula, then flip crêpe over with your fingertips. Cook until underside is set, about 30 seconds. Slide onto a plate. Make more crêpes, brushing skillet with butter and stacking crêpes on plate.
• Assemble purses:
• Top each crêpe, browned side up, with about 1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream and 2 teaspoon caviar. Gather crêpe around filling and tie 1 or 2 blanched chives in a knot to close purse. Trim ends of chives if necessary.

FETA CHEESE FOLDOVERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• In a small bowl, blend feta cheese, green onions, and egg. Cut pastry into 12 (3 inch) squares. Place a mounded tablespoon of feta mixture in the center of each square. Moisten edges with water, and fold pastry over filling to form a triangle. Press edges together firmly with a fork to seal. Lightly brush pastries with the egg yolk mixture.
• Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

FETA CHEESE BEGGAR'S POUCHES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375*.
• Brush each square of phyllo dough with melted butter and stack them in eight stacks of four. As you stack them, turn them slightly so the corners do not match up evenly.
• Cover the stacks with a slightly moistened towel or plastic wrap to keep phyllo from drying out.
• Combine the spinach, feta, garlic and eggs, and season with salt and pepper. Place a portion of the mixture on each of the stacks of phyllo. Pull the phyllo up over the mixture and pinch it together to make a pouch. Place the pouch on a baking sheet and brush with melted butter. Repeat to form 8 pouches, placing them approximately 1 inch apart on baking sheet.
• Bake the pouches for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
• To serve, put some marinara in a large serving bowl and set the pouches on top. Grind fresh pepper over the top of each pouch and garnish with basil and asiago cheese. Serve hot.

FETA CHEESE WAFFLES

Steps:

• Preheat a shallow waffle iron to its highest setting. Spray the iron on the top and bottom with cooking spray. Place the block of feta in the center of the waffle iron, then press until the feta melts and the waffle iron closes. Allow to cook until golden brown and crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Mix together the tomatoes, olive oil, olives, parsley, oregano, garlic and lemon zest and pour into a food processor. Briefly pulse until the mixture looks coarse. Taste and season to your liking. Remember, feta is salty; do not over season with salt. Remove the feta waffle from the waffle iron and cut into 8 wedges. Place on a platter and serve with the tomato mixture.

FETA PUFFS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Roll out pastry into a 14- by 10-inch rectangle (about 1/8 inch thick) on a lightly floured surface. Trim edges, preferably with a pizza wheel, and cut pastry lengthwise into 6 (1 1/2-inch-wide) strips. Chill strips on a baking sheet, covered with plastic wrap, until cold, about 10 minutes.
• Blend feta, cream, pepper, and 1 tablespoon egg in a food processor until smooth, then form into 21 balls on a work surface.
• Keeping remaining pastry covered, brush top of 1 strip with some of beaten egg. Starting 1/2 inch from one end and leaving 1/2 inch at opposite end, evenly space 7 cheese balls down center of strip. Cover with another pastry strip, pressing ends together, then press between balls of filling gently but firmly. Press pastry around each ball to seal top and bottom together and wipe away any filling that leaks out. Brush top of strip (but not sides) with some of egg and sprinkle with 1/2 tablespoon thyme. Cut between mounds of filling to form squares and arrange pastries 1 inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Make more pastries with remaining strips, filling, and thyme.
• Bake in middle of oven until puffed and golden, about 12 minutes. Serve warm.
• Note: Unbaked pastries can be frozen, wrapped well in plastic wrap, 2 weeks. Thaw in refrigerator.

FETA CHEESE BITES

Steps:

• Toast fennel seeds in a small saute pan over medium heat, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl. Add lemon zest; mix to combine.
• Spear each cube of feta with a toothpick. Coat two opposite sides of each cheese cube with lemon-fennel seed mixture.