Marinated Feta & Castelvetrano Olives with Lemons and Rosemary

Wine & Dine Wednesday a tasty assembling of things that makes for a fab offering right out of the jar at your next cocktail party or pre-supper nibble. These also make stellar host/hostess gifts during the Holiday season or really any season for that matter. Any glass jar will do, but I am a huge fan of Weck jars. There is just something about the design and variety of sizes I am quite drawn to. We use them for a host of things like holding utensils in the above photo.

As I wrote earlier, this is all about assembling as no cooking is involved. Here goes! Buy a brick of really good feta and cut into cubes. Not tiny or huge. But a size that won’t fall apart in the jar as you want them to stay cubed and not fall apart. Slice a lemon and take out the seeds. Set your pepper grinder to coarse as you want to see good sized pieces of the peppercorn. Put a good amount of olives on a paper towel or towel to absorb any residual liquid. You want them dry when you add them in. Trim rosemary stems so they are no taller than the vessel you are using. You are now ready to put things together.

Pour extra virgin olive oil about a third of the way into the jar. Gently add in some of the cubed feta so the pieces stay intact. Add olives. Then wedge in a slice of lemon or two. Add a few springs of rosemary. Give all a light sprinkling of the course freshly cracked pepper. Think of this a bit like an art project. You want the assembled things to look creative. Now repeat until your jar is full. Let sit in the fridge for a day so the flavors can meld and do their magic. Be sure to take out of the refrigerator a few hours before serving so it can come to room temp. The chill will make things cloudy, but once it starts to warm up, the cloudiness goes away and the mixture becomes clear again. Serve with crackers or a warmed baguette. Enjoy!