About a month ago whilst surfing the round-up of Weekend Herb Blogging, I paid particular attention to a Feta Pesto, made by Genie of the Inadertant Gardener. I bookmarked the recipe for future reference.
Fast forward to last week and I bought a weekend edition of a Greek newspaper which included a food/cooking magazine in it. These magazines from Greece help me keep in tune with what’s “cookin” in Greece and keep tabs on food trends there.
So I’m flipping through the pages and what do I see? Feta pesto!
In my rendition, I’ve taken a little of The Inadvertant Gardener’s version, a little of the Greek magazine’s version and I’ve made my own rendition.
Before I lay out the ingredients, I want to point out that using good feta cheese is important here. The crumbled stuff in stores is very sharp, no depth of flavour, made from cow’s milk and usually too salty. Good feta is sold in large pieces in a brine, is made from goat’s/sheep’s milk, is creamy, tart and not overly salty.
The next thing to point out is walnuts are a perfectly fine substitute for pine nuts. Finally, I added parsley and some dried oregano to mellow out the flavour of the basil. The end result was a light tasting pesto, creamy, tart sauce that stuck nicely to the egg pasta.
Hilopites With Feta Pesto
1 large handful of fresh basil leaves, washed and pat-dry of any water
1 large clove of garlic, smashed
2 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp fresh parsley leaves
1 slab of good feta cheese (200gr.)
1/4 cup pine nuts
2-4 Tbsp. of extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 package of Hilopites (Greek egg noodle pasta)
1 cup of pasta water
- Into a food processor, add your basil, garlic, oregano, parsley and feta and pulse a few times to mix. Now puree your mixture and slowly add your olive oil until you achieve the consistency you like.
- Add the pine nuts and pulse a few times to mix in but not break them up too much. Reserve.
- Start a pot of boiling water. Add salt and then boil your egg pasta as per package instructions until “al dente”.
- Rerserve about 1 cup of pasta water and drain your pasta (do not rinse). Using the same pot, brown some unsalted butter and when it turns nutty brown, add your pasta back into the pot and stir. Add your pesto and some pasta water and mix. Repeat process of adding pesto and pasta water until you achiece the desired colour and creaminess of your sauce.
Σας ευχαÏιστοÏμε εÏγευστοι( I hope that it correct Peter!!!) I am trying to say Thank you and delicious. When in Greece I really only learnt enough Greek to be polite and to ask for small portions of food.
Val…you’re bang on!
However, when in Greece, never ask for small portions…non-existent in the vocabulary!
Peter, love the sound and looks of that pasta! I know what you mean about the feta cheese. I searched and searched down here for something other than that salty stuff you mentioned and finally found a wonderful Greek sheeps milk feta. The brand name is Kolios. Great Cheese! I have never made pesto with feta. Now I have a new adventure waiting for me!
Deb,
Kolios is a good brand. Sometimes you’ll see feta made in Canada or the US…just ensure it’s from sheep/goat’s milk and you’ll find them tasty as well.
I am taking note of this recipe, sounds delicious and I do love feta!
The egg noodle pasta looks good too! Haven’t seen that one before!
That sounds good – I’ve got lots of parsley left…I’m thinking…
Peter, I finally was able to get the page to load to see your rendition — looks wonderful! I agree — walnuts would be a great substitution here, and using the brined version of feta is key — the pre-crumbled stuff can be quick and convenient, but for these purposes, definitely not good.
How funny that the Greek magazine had a version of the recipe, too! Apparently I was on the cutting edge and didn’t even know it… :-)
Sigh…that looks so good. I’m a feta fanatic–must make that soon.
I love these noodles. As kids we used to have them so plain, simply with only butter all over them. I never even knew they were called hilopites (we knew them as “kori”). This recipe sounds awesome!
K
I will have to try this! You are so right about feta. I live among the Greek community in Melbourme, Australia. Their delis sell the best feta! So many to choose from, too.
What noodles did you use in your picture for that recipe because the hilopites we get are very tiny squares, about 1 cm by 1 cm, not large and rectagle like in your picture. Just wondering because I’d like to try the kind you used.
Hilopites can come in all shapes…from the small ones you’re familiar with to the wide, long noodles seen here.
Hilopites are noodles made with semolina, flour,eggs and milk.