Monday Munchies? Here’s a healthy recipe from the lovely Lilly Higgins.

Lilly at the launch of her new book Dream Deli

Morning all! Following on from our interview with Lilly Higgins, we now bring to you a fab recipe full of healthy ingredients to give you a boost for the week ahead. I’ve battled with the right ingredients to fill a feta bake and have never nailed it, so am looking forward to trying out Lilly’s recipe this evening.

Having decided the cold, wet wintery weather is far too depressing to have a dry January, I think I’ll be opening up the bottle of Gemma Barbera d’Alba that’s sitting in the rack. The lighter style with fine tannins and delicate flavours should go well with the gentle flavours in this dish. The marked acid in the wine should hopefully work well with the tomatoes naturally high acids too!

Here’s the recipe, thanks Lilly! (As an aside, if you click the link on Toonsbridge, their story is a whole other blog in itself!)

“This is my quick and easy feta bake, make it once and you’ll just keep making it! Perfect for a day after the farmers market when I pick up a huge block of buffalo feta from Toonsbridge dairy. I also use the olives from The Olive Stall and crusty Arbutus bread, a winning combination!”

Baked Feta with crusty bread

Tomato & Toonsbridge Buffalo Feta Bake (Serves 6)

• 1 red onion, halved & thinly sliced
• 1kg Tomatoes, halved or quartered
• 8 basil leaves
• 2 tbsp Marjoram leaves
• 80 g Kalamata olives, destoned & chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Chilli flakes
• Black pepper
• 500g Toonsbridge Buffalo or regular Feta
• Crusty bread & a great salad to serve

Preheat the oven to 200C. 

Place the onion, tomatoes, olive oil, half the herbs, chopped olives and garlic in a bowl. Season with black pepper and a pinch of chilli flakes. Be very cautious in seasoning this dish as the feta and olives are already salty Mix gently. Place the feta in the centre of an oven safe serving dish. Arrange the tomato mixture on top and around the feta. Bake in the hot oven for fifteen minutes , scatter the remaining herbs over and serve immediately.

Making the cheeses in situ at Toonsbridge

Why not follow Lilly’s example and try to source the ingredients as locally as possible, perhaps going as far as bringing a herd of buffalo to Ireland, could be a little over enthusiastic for the average punter..

The buffalo at Toonsbridge