Grilled Feta with Pickled Peppers, Tomatoes, and Garlic

A few weeks ago, when I posted about the bacon wrapped feta, a good friend of mine now working in Germany reminded me how Germans will grill certain types of cheese with a high melt point.  The first time I tried this as an appetizer at a German restaurant, I fell in love.  The only problem was that I couldn't find out the type of cheese it was due to being lost in translation.  My German friends were calling it schafkäse.  Loose translation is sheep cheese.  After some digging, I have learned that it can either be Halloumi or Feta.  Whatever it is, this dish is good eating.  When we have fresh peppers and tomatoes over the summer, I always try and make this for dinner a few times.  So, here is our method.

First, I pickled some hot and sweet peppers with garlic cloves and olives.  My pickling liquid was just a basic pickle brine:

1 1/2 cups of white wine vinegar.  I used the white wine variety as I did not want the vinegar to be overpowering in the dish.
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp of sugar.  I used Turbinado
1 tsp of kosher salt

While the above was coming to a boil, I cut some sweet and hot peppers, then packed into 1/2 pint jars with:

2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp oregano

Once the brine was boiling, I poured into the jars and sealed and let pickle for 24 hours.

The next day, after I lit my grill, I drained my peppers and placed in a bowl with some sliced onion, quartered tomatoes, and some pitted kalamata olives.  I also sliced some 1x3 inch slabs of feta cheese and placed those in a bowl.  Both bowls received light drizzle of olive oil.  I also made sure the feta blocks were lightly coated on all sides with the oil.

Once the grill was ready, I put the pepper mixture in my trusty cast iron skillet and placed the skillet on my grill to start a very quick sauté.  

Next, the crazy part.  I placed the feta blocks over semi-direct heat for grilling.

Eventually, I placed the cheese on direct heat because I was not seeing the crispiness that I wanted.

One I was starting to see a nice brown color on my cheese, I made some room in my skillet to place the cheese for serving.

I served the Feta and veggies with slices of crusty baguette.

This makes a great summertime dinner or appetizer while grilling.  It is also a nice use for all of those peppers and tomatoes you might have from your garden.  Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill