"feta cheese" news and stories

Watermelon salad with mint and feta cheese was one of those things that I wanted to hate when I first heard about it five or six years ago. I couldn't imagine that the saltiness of feta cheese would go well the watery sweetness of watermelon. However, with so many things in life, as soon as I gave it a try, I was proven happily wrong. It's a magical combination and one that you should try out if you haven't yet had a chance.

This picture by Flickr user Ayngelina is a gorgeous example of this tasty salad. Thanks for adding it to the Slashfood Flickr pool!

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You're on vacation in Greece when your stomach gives a sudden lurch and you start to suspect that the grilled lamb you ate the night before might not have been as squeaky clean as you thought (this is not a scenario I've ever found myself in, but hey, it could happen). Instead of running out to a pharmacy for the local equivalent of Pepto-Bismol, head to the local cheese shop for a slab of raw milk feta.

According to Panagiotis Chanos, a researcher from the University of Lincoln, they've been able "to isolate lactic acid bacteria found in raw sheep milk from small farms in Macedonia, northern Greece. Several of these friendly bacteria naturally produce antibiotics that killed off dangerous food-poisoning bacteria like Listeria."

They are hoping to take this research and leverage it into new ways to fight Listeria, as it has been known to cause death in populations who have weakened immune systems.

[via The Grinder]

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I was sitting in a coffee shop earlier today, working on my thesis (it seems to be nearly the only thing I do these days) when my cell phone rang. It was my mom, calling for potluck recipe suggestions. After determining that she didn't have anything that particularly needed to be use up, I started brainstorming a grain salad with red pepper, feta, green onion, dried cranberries, cucumber, toasted slivered almonds and plenty of chopped mint. It needed a dressing and so we dreamed up a vinaigrette of honey, orange zest, white balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

I first started out thinking this dish using couscous, but when my mom mentioned that she had lots of barley, we both made the mental shift to that grain. It has a nice bite and takes dressing well without getting soggy (salads made with barley can last for days in the fridge). The only secret to cooking barley for salad is to use three parts water to one part grain, as it needs more liquid than rice or quinoa.

Now, if only I could fly home to Portland tonight for dinner.

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All across the country, zucchini and other summer squashes are taking over garden patches. They double in size overnight, leaving home cooks pondering new ways to use them up so that their families don't say to them, "You mean we're having squash? Again?"

The following recipe has captured my attention as a terrific way to use a lot of your zucchini. It fancies up your basic grilled squash, and, coupled with a protein and a grain salad, would make a terrific meal. The grilling of the squash could be done outside, on a stove-top grill pan or even on a large George Foreman.

Today, it's approximately 2000 degrees outside (around 2100 in my apartment), and I don't feel like turning on my oven or even eating anything hot. I think a salad would hit the spot, and this recipe from Jessica over at AllRecipes sounds interesting (and by interesting I mean "hmmm...I never thought of putting those things in the same salad").

It's the Watermelon Summer Salad, and besides refreshing, cool watermelon, you also get feta cheese, black olives, and sliced red onion. However, Jessica tells us not to be scared by the ingredients,. They work well together. Full recipe after the jump.