One of my very favorite quick and easy dinners in Abu Dhabi was cherry tomatoes with feta cheese, a little olive oil, cracked black pepper and arabic bread. The combination of flavors and textures was just right. Salty, peppery, cheesey and the oooh the juicy cherry tomatoes added a freshness and sweetness that balanced out the cheese.
The bread is what brought the whole dish together. It just doesn't taste the same with out it. While it seems insignificant it's one of the crucial elements of the dish (it's also the best way to get all the extra olive oil drips and feta crumbles at the end)
The corner store by our house would sell the flat bread fresh daily. All I had to do was roll up in my car and a man would come out with the bread which was usually still warm. I'd give him about $.40 and be on my way home.
Preparation was always fast. Crumble some feta cheese on a plate, wash and halve some cherry tomatoes (the really good ones are the cheap ones from Oman - you could get a whole container for under a dollar!). I would then get some lebanese olive oil to pour over the fetta and then crack loads of black pepper over the top. On top of the tomatoes I would add my own twist by sprinkling some Lawry's Seasoning Salt over the top and wha-la. Dinner was ready.
I would grab the plate, bread and a coke in a bottle and head in to the living room where I would sit to enjoy my meal. Ripping off pieces of bread and scooping up a little feta soaked in olive oil and a tomato half. Piece by piece I would finish my meal. Often my husband would come home to find me sitting on the floor, eating at the coffee table, watching BBC Food. He would always chuckle as he headed to go rustle up his own dinner.
Needless to say it's very easy to find all of those ingredients out here... except for the arabic bread. Grocery stores just don't carry the same kind of thin pocket bread that is just slightly sweet and dusted in flower. I had tried to make due with regular pocket bread but it's way to thick to try to scoop up little bits of feta and tomato. Tortilla, while it looks like it should work great, just doesn't even come close.
This is one of those dishes that if I can't have it right I don't really want it... so I have gone with out (I know life is hard!). That was until this weekend. I found my bread! And I sat down at my coffee table with a coke and plate of cherry tomatoes and feta cheese and enjoyed the yumminess
