A Simple Greek Olive and Feta Meze
The Greek table at its best is a scatter of small, simple plates — and few are simpler or better than olives and feta dressed with good oil and oregano. Here is the version to start with.
This is barely a recipe and entirely a pleasure: the four cornerstones of the Greek table — olives, feta, olive oil and oregano — assembled into a meze that takes two minutes and tastes like a holiday.
What you need
A block of feta (in brine, not the crumbly dry kind); a generous handful of Greek olives — a winey Kalamata, a crisp green Halkidiki, or both; good Greek extra virgin olive oil; dried oregano; and, if you like, a little lemon, chilli and a few capers.
Method
Lay the feta on a plate (whole, or in thick slabs), scatter the olives around it, drizzle generously with oil, crush over plenty of dried oregano, and add a twist of pepper. Serve with warm bread and let people break off pieces. That’s it.
With this few ingredients, two of them carry the whole plate. Use a good Greek oil — Greece presses some of the world’s best Koroneiki and sells it cheap, so there’s no excuse for a tired bottle here. And don’t skimp the dried oregano: in Greece it’s the aromatic that defines the flavour, far more pungent dried than fresh. Crush it between your fingers as you scatter it to wake up the oils. No salt needed — the feta and olives bring it.