Sesame Crusted Feta with Citrus + Honey

A great snack, appetizer, salad topping, or addition to a cheese board!  We used white sesame seeds and finished with honey, warmed with fresh oranges and a drizzle of olive oil. This is a very flexible recipe and low cost recipe, you can cut your feta into any shapes and season with any additional herbs + spices. No added salt in this dish as feta is plenty salty on it's own. 

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 8-10 block of firm feta
• 1/4 cup all purpose or rice flour
• 1 egg
• 4-6 tablespoons White Sesame Seeds
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 orange, peeled and segmented
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup arugula
• cracked black pepper. to taste
• 1/2 cup neutral oil (canola, avocado, etc), for frying

Directions:

1. Divide your feta into desired finished portions.
2. Pat feta dry on all sides.
3. Whisk egg with a splash of water for egg wash.
4. Pour your sesame seeds in a thin layer on a plate.
5. Coat feta pieces in flour, then egg, then seeds. Ensuring to get all sides and no gaps. Set aside.
   
6. In a shallow saucepan, heat your 1/2 cup oil over medium heat. Test temperature with a thermometer or by dropping some spare cheese in to see how fast it bubbles. We want a temperature that will get the seeds golden and the cheese softened, 365F. 
7. Carefully drop your crusted cheese into the hot oil. Prepare a paper towel lined resting tray on the side. Rotate/Flip cheese to get color on all sides, then remove from oil and drain on paper towels.
8. In a small skillet, heat your honey, oranges, and olive oil over medium high heat. Once mixture starts to bubble, remove from heat. 
9. To serve, toss arugula in a light drizzle of olive oil + black pepper and add to plate. Add crusted feta to plate, and top with oranges. Drizzle with honey mixture and enjoy!

Make it your own:

• Top with Aleppo chili flakes!
• Add SKORDO Greek Seasoning to your egg mixture
• Try blending both white sesame seeds + black sesame seeds.
• Substitute orange segments with pomegranate.