Crispy Lemon Feta with Spiced Chickpeas and Basil Orzo

Probably great for experienced cooks on a Sunday who are content to go through multiple steps to get to the end product. Didn't turn out as promised (and I cook quite a bit), took WAY longer than 30 minutes (even though I cooked the orzo and made the yogurt sauce in advance) and basically doesn't work with my lifestyle. All the components taste fine and it tastes ok altogether, but it's not life changing or anything.

Feta crisped up nicely in a non-stick pan that I let really warm up over medium heat. Pat individual slices dry instead of the whole block. Lastly, I would do the chickpeas in the air fryer next time, they took forever in the pan. Great flavors though!

Less garlic in the yoghurt. Add some cherry tomatoes with the chickpeas for a sweet juice burst.

The feta didn't really crisp up....more melt, but it was still delicious. I used spaghetti as I didn't want to buy Orzo especially for this recipe.

With the prep this is more than 30 minuntes. If you prep the night before you can get this done quicker. Cool orzo the night before (save the herbs for when serving). If I make again I would cook the veggies and the feta at the same time so that the feta stays hot. Doing the feta first and having it sit makes it room temp and the texture will firm up again and not be soft in the middle.

We made with asparagus which worked equally well instead of zucchini! One note that I would add is some capers

dlho sme doma mali halloumi, tak konecne padlo na uzitok 😋 inak celkom rychle, aj ked dlhsie ako v recepte, ak ma byt cuketa makka mnamka, za mna palec hore 😊

Took more then half an hour to put together! Allow at least an hour. Also would add more lemon. But a lovely dish and very filling. The feta was great!

Overall it was good. We amped up the flavor of the yogurt sauce by adding more garlic and lemon.

Was a bit challenging but turned out very good. The flavors were great and added in some sliced olives to the chickpeas. The fried feta was a delicious addition crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside.