Whipped Feta with Mint & Pistachios.

Whipped feta may be trendy, but it is also delicious.

This month here on ingredient we’re focusing on fresh mint, the most herbal of the herb family whose calming yet refreshing aroma that helps us transition between the seasons.

Find out more about it and get the recipe for my Fresh Mint & Ginger Lemonade here. Paid subscribers can also access my easy, weeknight, and totally delicious recipe for Pan Fried Pork Steaks with Chilli, Mint & Peas here.

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I’m not sure I’m altogether supportive of short form food videos. Yes, sometimes they can be really effective, but creating quite a few for clients each month I often find myself questioning if with recipes that are more than just assemblies if sharing them in video rather than text format is the 2020’s equivalent of failing to provide a recipe with a finished product photograph in a cookbook: you’re relegating it to be rarely made and enjoyed.

However, I’m not immune to watching a few of these videos. Yes I don’t seek them out - and I pretty much only use my TikTok account for watching cats being stupid and Formula 1 memes - but the algorithm keeps on forcing them on me. And I’m seeing whipped feta, a delicious, smooth feta dip made by combining it with Greek yogurt, everywhere.

I’ve been a dedicated whipped feta fan since I made the Warm Roasted Butternut Squash & Rocket Salad with Whipped Feta in The FODMAP Friendly Kitchen when our publisher first sent me a copy to review in 2017. How can you not love the flavour of feta blitzed into a smooth sauce? Sometimes I keep it plain, sometimes I make a herby version (see below) , and sometimes I use it as a canvas to build a spoonable salad of dressed beetroot, nuts and herbs. It also makes a great alternative to cream cheese on a bagel platter.

Rachel Phipps

Rachel Phipps on Instagram: “AD. I’ve teamed up with @iliada_evoo today to bring you this delicious Greek-style Whipped Feta & Herb Dip made with their delicious Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Basil which is perfect to serve with pitta chips (one of my favourite snacks when I was in Greece) and drinks before dinner, carrot sticks for lunch, piled into wraps with some grilled meats and a bit of salad, or simply as part of a Greek-inspired spread! 🇬🇷 I’m totally in that in between time with food at the moment, where sometimes I still want winter comfort foods, but more I’m craving less meat, more healthy Mediterranean-style dishes drizzled with lots of fresh and fruity EVO. You can find Iliada’s authentic, PDO protected status (it’s made with oil from olives grown in Kalamata, famous for beautifully flavoured olives) Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Basil, as well as their regular and truffle oil on Amazon (the flavoured oils are £5 each!) - all packaged in their specially designed tins that protect the oil from sunlight and UV rays, big no no’s for storing good quality olive oil! Greek-style Whipped Feta & Herb Dip
Serves 2-4 120g feta
60g 0% Greek yogurt 2 tbsp Iliada Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Basil, plus extra for serving
2 tsp dried marjoram 1 tsp dried oregano
juice of 1/2 lemon
fresh marjoram or Greek basil, for serving Combine the feta, yogurt, olive oil, dried herbs and lemon juice in a food processor or mini chopped and blitz until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl or platter and swirl a little extra olive oil into the top. Serve scattered with fresh herbs! Remember to hit save to bookmark this recipe for later, and to tag me in your post if you decide to give this recipe a go!”

May 1, 2023

For today’s bang-on-trend whipped feta recipe I’ve taken the popularly of my very scoopable, pretty-on-the-plate Hummus, Tomato & Sumac Salad and the vibrant green colour as well as beguiling, fresh flavour of this months fresh mint to make the perfect appetiser (and I’m using this in both the British and American sense) to enjoy throughout the summer. You’d think the minty green feta would be good by itself: it is as a sauce, but don’t skimp on the pistachios which add almost another element of creamy as well as pleasant crunch, and the toasted cumin seeds which add a smoky, exotic element which makes this plateful hard to refuse.

Whipped Feta with Mint & Pistachios

Serves: 2-4, Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 5 minutes

Feel free to whip the feta up to a couple of hours in advance and store it in the fridge - it will thicken as it chills, making it easier to create pretty, buildable swirls to capture all the toppings in - but I did not bother for these pictures, and I still think this looks fantastic and it was totally scoopable for lunch with some crusty bread. You could also serve it in a simple bowl with plenty of things to dunk in it instead, or as a sauce alongside grilled salmon. Both salmon and mint, and salmon and pistachios are unexpectedly great bedfellows.