The Busy Gourmand

This is one of those time-saving recipes that taste like you spent a lot of time and effort.  It combines sun dried tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese into a spread for crackers or toasted bread.  I have also used it as a stuffing for chicken breasts and I am sure it would go well as a topping for a steak.  It is a basic part of any party I host.

• 8 to 10 sun dried tomatoes, either packed in oil or dried in the package.
• 6 to 8 pitted olives, any variety that you like will do, I usually use cocktail olives because I always have them, if you want to use other olives go right ahead
• 1/2  tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
• 2 oz feta cheese crumbled
• freshly ground black pepper
• up to 2 tablespoons of olive oil

If you are using sun dried tomatoes in olive oil give them a rough chop and add to a small food processor.  If you are using the dried packaged variety you will have to reconstitute the tomatoes by immersing them in a bowl of hot water for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Then you can give them a rough chop and add to the food processor.

Give the olives a rough chop and add to the processor followed by the rosemary and a couple of turns from the pepper mill.  Add about half a tablespoon of olive oil and process into a paste.  You may have to add more olive oil if the ingredients do not process smoothly.  Add the feta cheese, a little more olive oil and process one last time.  The whole mixture will have a paste-like consistency but you should still see the bits of  tomato and olive.

You can serve this with crackers or toasted bread.  You can make this ahead, and leave tightly covered in the refrigerator for a couple of days.