This week my aunt went away on holiday and gave me some fresh “anari” cheese. I know people enjoy “anari” with honey and carob syrup but I wanted something different. “Been there, eaten that”, I thought. I still wanted something sweet and nutty, that could be good as a quick breakfast with some fruit, or an afternoon snack with some coffee. And something easy to make. As it gets hotter I find myself craving simple, fast and flavourful foods. In the summer months it is definitely possible to find easy-to-make recipes, you just have to find the right ones. Because I’ll be talking about how to make “anari” in a later post, for now I will just say that “anari” is a traditional low-fat Cypriot cheese. When it is freshly made, it is a very soft cheese – sort of like ricotta in texture. So this week, on someone’s recommendation (an American-In-Cyprus) I paired it with a little maple syrup, cinnamon and some freshly toasted walnuts. It is as good as it is simple to make. Lots of flavour, and the sweetness is balanced out by the cheese and walnuts. It is fairly easy to find maple syrup in Cyprus now. Most of the larger grocery stores stock it. I think the bigger challenge is to find anari outside of Cyprus. Can you? It would be interesting to hear your opinions. As for now, it is summertime. And my mind is wandering to watermelons, figs, the beach and ice cream. More on that next week though as right now it is time for my delicious “anari” snack! Enjoy!
Cooking Time: n/a
ingredients
recipe
1. Lightly toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan on medium heat. This should take about 2 minutes.
2. Put the anari cheese in a small bowl and use a fork to crumble the same.
3. Drizzle the maple syrup, then sprinkle the walnuts and the cinnamon on top. Enjoy as a quick breakfast or afternoon snack.
