Ed Doherty's Feta Cheese Crisps

Would you like to know what disaster looks like? This is what disaster looks like.

Those shredded bits of feta and herbs were meant to bake up into crispy brown rounds to be nibbled on with a glass of wine as an appetizer at an easy Sunday dinner last night in Queens. Instead, I found myself gingerly lifting liquefied blobs of cheese off my baking sheet with a metal spatula yesterday afternoon and breaking out in an angry sweat when I realized that I'd have to trash the entire lot. All of it - the greasy, sweaty, herbed-up cheese - got dumped into the bin.

So much for the Feta Cheese Crisps expounded on by none other than Greek cooking authority Diane Kochilas in a New York Times article about that famous cheese. Kochilas got the recipe from Doherty, a chef in Philadelphia who is developing a "Greek-inspired" restaurant there. I can only hope that the Feta Crisps won't be featured on the menu, or that perhaps some recipe testing is included in the development of that restaurant.

You're supposed to pulse together rinsed and drained feta with some grated pecorino, thyme, oregano, nutmeg and black pepper and then drop spoonfuls of this mixture onto a baking sheet. The cheese dollops are baked at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. You're then supposed to transfer the crisps to a wire rack to cool. I assume Doherty hoped his crisps would be a Greek version of the Italian frico, but I really have to wonder if he thought that simply substituting feta for Parmigiano would actually work despite its much wetter, softer consistency.

Luckily for me, I made the recent discovery of a delicious cheese called Crucolo (if you can buy this where you live, do so, please) and was able to proffer this to my hosts instead. Our meal of tuna steaks in a lovely ginger sauce followed by an incredible plum tart (a square of puff pastry covered with shredded almond paste and halved plums filled with mascarpone and dusted with cinnamon) all but made up for the earlier kitchen indignity. But still. Didn't anybody try to make this before it got published in the Times?

Comments

[Ilana]

hey that's a shame. I know how annoying it is to have something not work, esp. if it's for a party!
Have you tried emailing them to see maybe there was a misprint in the recipe -- happens.

Not that I think NY Times is incapable of making bad food decisions, but then they could address it to other readers and hopefully you'll have some part in someone not ruining perfectly good feta. :)

cheers.

[Rebecca]

Honestly, few things in life enrage me more than trusting a recipe to find that it simply does not work!

Our local Pittsburgh paper is lousy, but at least does test recipes before it prints them, and shares the experiences of the testers, offering tips, hints, and cautions.

Some would say, why try a new recipe out on company, but I often do that, simply because some new recipes call for expensive ingredients that I might not buy unless I'm making it for a special dinner party meal; but you expect the recipe to work!

[Kaylie]

A disappointing cheese mishap and ubfortunate waste of feta. But, sounds like dessert was fabulous -- by any chance did you get the recipe for the plum tart??

[Lindy]

What do they do, just make something up and write it down?

Wouldn't you just love to leave your little feta doodles on the Doherty doorstep as a tiny thank you note?

[tanvi]

Ah, I would rue the waste of feta, too! Sorry the recipe was a bust. The plum tart with almond paste sounds incredible, though!

[lobstersquad]

It so sucks when they don´t work. I never know wether to blame myself, my oven or the recipe testers. But the dissapointment is the worst, never mind the ingredients.

[Kara]

Perhaps 1-2 tablespoons of flour could have helped avert disaster.

[Lesley Price]

Oh my I really hate it when you try out a new recipe and it was doomed before
you started. I allways test recipes before I post them on my recipe
website just in case one of my readers tries it out.

[mma shirts]

This recipe looks fantastic!