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Whipped Feta with Sweet and Hot Peppers
Chopped Romaine and Cucumber Salad with Yogurt Dressing
Trout Spanakopitta with Avocado and Salmon Roe
Künefe with Champagne-Cardamom Syrup

Whipped Feta with Sweet and Hot Peppers

At Oleana, we serve this addictive staple as a bread condiment, under the “prêt à manger” section of our menu. We dish it up in a little crock and sprinkle it with a pinch each of Aleppo and Urfa chilies and paprika to really show the peppers off.
This untraditional recipe is my interpretation of a typical hot pepper and feta spread eaten as a mezze in Greece. It’s important to use a good creamy feta—such as a sheep’s milk French feta--so that it will whip up very smoothly. For salads and more crumbly applications, Greek-style or cow’s milk feta is fine.
Serve this dish with meniche or with celery sticks, raw fennel sticks, or spears of endive as a salad course or snack.
Makes 2 cups and serves 4 to 6.

2 cups sheep’s milk French feta, drained and broken into rough ½ pieces or crumbled
2 red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
2 teaspoons Aleppo chilies + a pinch for garnish
1 teaspoon Urfa chilies + a pinch for garnish
½ teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika + a pinch for garnish
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil

1. Place all of the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and combine them so that the sweet and hot peppers coat the cheese.
2. In a food processor, fitted with a metal blade, purée the mixture for about 2 minutes, until very smooth and creamy.
3. Place the mixture in a crock and sprinkle it with a pinch of all three of the chilies to garnish and show them off.

Chopped Romaine and Cucumber Salad with Yogurt Dressing

This crunchy, flavor-packed salad is inspired by the finely shredded romaine salads I ate in Greece, and is one of the most-requested recipes at Oleana. The magic comes from the combination of the fresh parsley, dill, and mint. It’s worth every bit of labor and love that goes into it.
This salad is richer than a simple green salad so portions can be modest. Serve it with devilled eggs for a terrific light lunch and drink a Loire Valley chenin blanc that has characteristics of honey and herbal tea.
Serves 4. 1 large head of romaine, blemished outer leaves removed
1 English cucumber
¾ cup walnut halves, lightly toasted
1 cup roughly chopped arugula (about 1 small bunch), washed and dried well
1 tablespoon chopped flat parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
¼ teaspoon Aleppo chilies
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

For the Yogurt Dressing
1 heaping teaspoon finely minced garlic (about 2 large cloves)
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about ½ lemon)
1 tablespoon champagne or chardonnay vinegar (avoid acidic brands like Heinz)
1½ teaspoons sugar
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
½ cup Greek-style, whole-milk plain, or sheep’s-milk yogurt
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1. Wash and dry the romaine leaves. Be careful to dry the greens thoroughly, or the dressing won’t cling. Chop the romaine into fine shreds (1/4 inch) and place them in a large salad bowl.
2. Peel the cucumber and cut it in half lengthwise. Spoon out the seeds. Cut each half in half widthwise, making four long pieces, and grate the cucumber on the large holes of a box grater. Squeeze out any excess water with your hands.
3. Add the shredded cucumber to the chopped romaine. Combine the romaine and cucumber with the walnuts, chopped arugula, and herbs, and set aside or keep cold until you’re ready to toss and serve.
4. Make the dressing by combining the minced garlic with the lemon, vinegar, and sugar in a small mixing bowl. Let this mixture sit for at least 10 minutes to soften the sharpness of the raw garlic.
5. Finish the dressing by whisking in the yogurt and then the olive oil, little by little. Season to taste with salt and fresh-ground pepper.
6. Just before serving, add half the dressing to the salad, salt and pepper taste, and toss. Romaine is thick and crunchy and needs more dressing than a delicate lettuce. Taste the salad, and if the dressing’s too light, spoon on more. Sprinkle with chilies and serve immediately.

Trout Spanakopitta with Avocado and Salmon Roe

This dish is a fun, modern twist on two classic Greek mezze: spanakopitta and taramasalata. Spanakopitta means “spinach pie” in Greek, and instead of phyllo filled with the traditional spinach and feta cheese, I like to fill rainbow trout with a creamy spinach mixture, seasoned with plenty of fresh dill. Crisping the trout skin as much as possible mimics the crisp and flaky pastry used in traditional spanakopitta.
Taramasalata is a potato purée with carp roe that is smeared on pita bread and eaten before a meal. I like to make the purée with avocado and stud it with little pink salmon eggs. Each one bursts a little sea salt into a mouthful of creamy, rich avocado.
Serve this dish with a glass of medium-bodied Italian Valpolicella.
Serves 4. Salt and pepper to taste
2 pounds spinach, large stems removed and washed
1 bulb fennel
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 scallions, minced
1 teaspoon ouzo or raki (optional)
½ cup feta
1 egg
½ cup Greek-style or plain whole-milk yogurt
4 Idaho rainbow trout, boned but left whole (each should weigh 6 to 8 ounces)
2 avocados, peeled, halved, and scooped out
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about ½ lemon)
1 cup flour for dusting
2 tablespoons brown butter 4 teaspoons caviar or salmon roe

1. Prepare a medium mixing bowl with ice water.
2. In a large saucepan, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add salt to taste. Add the spinach and cook until wilted and tender, about 3 minutes. Drain the spinach into a colander and then set it in a bowl of ice water to shock and cool it quickly.
3. Drain the spinach into the colander again and squeeze out as much water as possible with your hands. Squeezing small amounts at a time works best. Roughly chop the spinach and set aside.
4. Trim off the long fennel fronds and remove the tough outer layer. Cut the fennel into quarters and remove the core. Slice the fennel lengthwise and then chop it into to a fine dice.
5. In a medium skillet, over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add the onion and fennel. Cook for about 4 minutes on low-medium heat, until the onion is translucent. Stir in ¾ of the garlic and all of the spinach and cook for 5 minutes more.
6. Place this mixture in a medium mixing bowl and stir in the dill, scallions, and ouzo.
7. Using a food processor, fitted with a metal blade, purée the feta, egg, and ¼ cup of the yogurt. Stir this into the spinach mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Remove the head from the de-boned trout and lay them open with the tails toward you, on a work surface. Season each fillet with salt and pepper.
9. On the top half of each fillet, spread ½ cup of the spinach mixture. Fold the fillets in half, forming rectangles. Set aside.
10. Using a food processor, fitted with a steel blade, purée the avocados with the remaining garlic and yogurt, the lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, until smooth and creamy. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
11. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
12. In a medium skillet, over high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Lightly dredge the trout fillets in flour and shake off any excess. Brown the trout in the skillet for about 4 minutes on each side. You can probably fit two fillets at a time in the skillet.
13. Place the trout in the oven for another 5 to 6 minutes to cook through and to assure that the spinach mixture is hot. The trout should be crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.
14. Drizzle the trout with brown butter and serve them with the avocado purée, dotted with caviar.

Künefe with Champagne-Cardamom Syrup

Künefe is a dessert that is made with shredded filo dough (called kadafi) and filled with a sweet cheese. It’s baked until golden and crispy and soaked in a sweet syrup, often scented with rose water.
I had tasted several different künefes in the United States, but I finally understood what is so special about this dessert when I ordered one at a meat restaurant called Hamdi, in Istanbul, next to the Egyptian Baazar. Hamdi’s künefe was the best, sweet, caramely, hot, crunchy, toasted cheesecake I had ever tasted. Hamdi used just the right amount of syrup, and the künefe was thin, crisp, and golden brown, with a sweet cheese center. In Turkey, they serve künefe with kaymak--a cream so thick that you can practically cut it--made from buffalo milk.
Maura Kilpatrick, who has been Oleana’s pastry chef from the day we opened (and whose skills leave me speechless), makes this version of künefe. Maura flavors the syrup with a brilliant cardamom-spiked champagne, and she tops the warm, crispy cheesecake with a dollop of mascarpone cheese and crushed, toasted pistachios.
Serves 8. ½ package shredded filo, also called kadafi
10 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons milk
½ pound fresh buffalo mozzarella, grated
1/8 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg
½ cup whole green cardamom pods
2 bottles sparkling wine, such as prosecco
1 ½ cups sugar
2 lemons, zested, juiced, and seeds removed
½ cup ground pistachios
8 tablespoons mascarpone cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Place the filo in a food processor and chop finely.
3. Add the butter and milk to the filo and line an 8-inch-square heavy baking dish with half of this mixture.
4. Mix the mozzarella cheese and nutmeg. Spread this mixture onto the shredded filo. Top with the remaining shredded pastry mixture. Press the mixture with your hands, so that it becomes compressed.
5. Bake for 45 minutes in the oven.
6. Meanwhile, crush the cardamom by placing the pods in a plastic bag and pounding them lightly with a rolling pin until the pods open and you see the black, oily seeds.
7. Combine the crushed pods, champagne, and sugar in a medium-large saucepan. Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
8. Turn the heat down to low and simmer the mixture for about 30 minutes, until it is thick and syrupy and is reduced by about 1/3 (so that you have 3 cups left). Strain through a fine sieve.
9. When the pastry comes out of the oven, ladle 2 cups of the syrup, little by little, over the künefe until it’s soaked.
10. Cut the künefe into slices and serve it immediately while it is still warm. Sprinkle each slice with pistachios, spoon on a dollop of mascarpone cheese, and let guests add the remaining syrup if they want more sweetness.