Oven Roasted Feta & Tomatoes with Chickpeas!

Lately I’m really into quick, healthy and easy2make recipes that are tasty and don’t need much cooking! This recipe is one of my favorites that I normally make with low fat feta goat cheese and juicy, ripe plum tomatoes. It's ideal for 2 – 4 servings; with or without salad greens. I hope you will like it as much as I do.

Ingredients

200g Feta cheese

250g cherry tomatoes, sliced in half.

2 x red peppers (Florina or Bell peppers) finely diced.

1 tin boiled chickpeas (use about half of tin strained or to taste)

Extra virgin olive oil, to taste

dried oregano, or fresh thyme, to taste

Red chili pepper flakes

Whole wheat tortillas (2 large or 4 small ones)

Optional:

Finely sliced scallions or red onion

Garlic clove, crushed.

Preparation Method

Heat the oven to 200C/400F.

Drizzle a baking dish (I used 30cm x 20cm oval) with a little olive oil. Place the Feta cheese in the center of dish and scatter the cherry tomatoes, red pepper and, if using, scallion or onion around the cheese.

Spritz or drizzle ingredients in baking dish with a little olive oil and sprinkle with dried oregano and red chili pepper, to taste.

Bake in oven for about 15 minutes and then remove from oven (using oven gloves) and add chickpeas to dish. Shake the oven dish a bit to mix the ingredients and place back into oven for another 10 – 15 minutes.

If you like serve this dish, as I often do, in crispy tortillas. To make tortillas crispy you need to place them into round baking tins. I do it without any greasy and just and bake in in the oven for a few minutes until crisp. I normally just place the tortilla pans on another oven rack while finishing cooking the dish with the chickpeas.

Once the dish is cooked and tortillas crispy, remove from oven and using a ladle or large spoon, place baked feta with the tomatoes and chickpeas into tortillas and adjust seasoning to your liking. If you like, drizzle top with a wee bit of extra virgin olive oil or dressing of choice, and if you like add some fresh herbs of choice!

Tips!

This dish is also great for salads. In this case just cook the dish in the oven for about 20 - 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool a bit and then add the strained boiled chickpeas. Serve with salad greens or any cooked pasta to make a pasta salad.

I recommend serving a light mustard/honey vinaigrette with the salad and for a more filling meal, serve it with your favorite crusty sourdough bread and guacamole.

Another idea is to add some chopped avocado to the dish with the chickpeas . . . as well as any fresh herbs or sprouts of choice.

If you have any left over, just put everything into a mini blender and make it into a dip or a basis for a warm or cold summer soup.