About ten years ago, we hosted a Croatian high school student for a month at our home in Nashville. His name was Bruno. The following summer, his family invited us to their summer home on the island of Brac, one of the Dalmatian Islands on the Adriatic coast. That vacation was one of the best trips of our lives.

Bruno’s parents, Lilijana and Mario, fixed all of our meals using local produce and products found on the island. The honey came from the beehives of a friend, the red wine came from a vat at a cousin’s house, the olive oil was pressed at another cousin’s home, even the fresh tuna on the Fourth of July came from a friend at the pier. It was all so marvelous.

Lily was a fabulous cook. She probably used fifteen types of ingredients to make all of our meals. Her cooking was simple, fresh, and delicious. Some afternoons, she would mix equal parts of sheep milk feta and goat cheese with olive oil, garlic, and herbs and serve it with crusty bread as an appetizer. We devoured it. We dubbed it “Croatian Cheese.” The first thing I did when I returned home was try to recreate it.

Ingredients:
Approximately equal amounts of sheep (feta) and goat milk cheeses — the packages I used had 1 pound of feta and 10 ounces of goat cheese
A few sprigs each of rosemary, basil, and parsley
*3 small cloves of freshly chopped garlic
¾ cup extra virgin, first cold pressed, olive oil

Prepare the aromatics: snip the leaves and peel the garlic.

I like to make this in a food processor for convenience. Refrigerate for a few hours to give the flavors time to meld. Serve cold.

Directions:
Pulse garlic cloves first*. Add herbs and pulse. Add cheeses and pulse. Finally, add olive oil and pulse briefly.

*Start with the smaller amount of garlic. Uncooked garlic is much stronger in flavor than cooked.

And you are done. Fair warning: it’s garlic-y!

Below is a photo of my favorite memory of Croatia — our two families went together on an overnight sailing trip.

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© 2014-2018 Judy Wright. All rights reserved. Photos, videos, and text may only be reproduced with the written consent of Judy Wright.