LEISURE^27
Food & Drink
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Feta cheese is selling out everywhere. It’s also
the No. 1 search term on Instacart, the grocery
delivery app. “If you’re under, say, 30, you know
exactly what was cause behind all of this,” said
Elise Taylor in Vogue.com. Recipes for baked
feta and pasta have gone viral on TikTok, with the
hashtag #feta pasta racking up more than 650 mil-
lion views. The spark came in late January when
U.S. food blogger MacKenzie Smith, sharing a
Finnish blogger’s recipe, posted a TikTok video to
spread the idea: Simply bake cherry tomatoes and
a block of feta in a sheet pan with oil and garlic,
then stir into cooked pasta. As The Washington Post put it, “A low-effort recipe for pasta
with tomatoes and cheese—what’s not to love?” Millions of people are now making the
dish, and this certainly won’t be the last time that TikTok changes the way we eat.Food TikTok can be many things, said Hazel Cills in Jezebel.com. Users of the platform
post short videos to share surprising food hacks, Coca-Cola pot roasts, and attempts
to re-create Taco Bell’s complete menu at home. The viral popularity of certain TikTok
dishes, such as SpaghettiO pie, feels driven by horrifi ed fascination rather than
sincere enthusiasm. But whatever the attraction of a particular recipe or hack, the rise
of “FoodTok” comes at a moment when the industry that previously produced our
food celebrities “has never felt more broken.” Americans living through a pandemic
apparently don’t need star chefs or even relatable domestic doyennes offering them
advice. “Watching FoodTok feels like watching how people actually cook and eat.” Yes,
FoodTok can be disgusting at times. “Most of all,” though, “it is democratizing.”Everything is delicious at the Berber &
Q shawarma bar in central London, said
J.M. Hirsch in Christopher Kimball’s Milk
Street magazine. “But the standout is the
cauliflower shawarma”—the cauliflower
blanched, then roasted, and finally smoth-
ered in “a wild tangle of flavors.”Inspired by that dish, the Milk Street team
has developed a recipe in which a head of
cauliflower is steam- roasted until tender,
then slathered with spiced tahini that cara-
melizes under a hot broiler. Grated fresh
tomatoes and a pungent garlic-chili oil fin-
ish the dish, along with a shower of parsley
and toasted pine nuts. “The result is an
impressive, incredibly flavorful vegetarian
main or hearty side.”Recipe of the week
Cauliflower with spiced tahini and
garlic-chile oil
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for
brushing
1 2-lb head cauliflower, trimmed
½ tsp red pepper flakes (or more, to taste)
2 medium garlic cloves, finely grated
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
2 ripe but firm tomatoes, halved
¼ cup tahini
1 tbsp lemon juice, plus wedges to serve
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground sumacShowtime cauliflower: A vegetarian main with flavor to spare
¾ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley,
roughly chopped
¼ cup pine nuts, toastedHeat oven to 475, with a rack in a middle
position. Line a broiler-safe rimmed bak-
ing sheet with foil and lightly brush foil
with oil. Place cauliflower in center, then
draw up edges of foil; drizzle 2 tbsp water
onto cauliflower, then enclose it, folding
and crimping edges of foil to seal. Bake
until a skewer inserted into the cauliflower
(through the foil) meets no resistance, 40 to
50 minutes.Remove baking sheet from oven and let
wrapped cauliflower cool for 10 minutes.
Carefully open foil but leave in place under
cauliflower; set aside to cool.While cauliflower cools, in a 10-inch skillet
over medium-low, cook ¼ cup oil, pepper
flakes, and garlic, stirring, until mixture
sizzles lightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a
small bowl, stir in ¼ tsp salt, and set aside.Grate tomatoes on the large holes of a
box grater set in a medium bowl, pressing
cut sides against grater, until only the skin
remains; discard skins. Stir in pinch of salt
and set aside.In a small bowl stir together tahini and
lemon juice. Then stir in 2 tbsp water, add-
ing more as necessary, 1 tbsp at a time,
until mixture is a smooth, spreadable paste.
Stir in cumin, sumac, cardamom, cinna-
mon, and ¼ tsp each salt and black pepper.Heat broiler. Spread tahini mixture over
entire surface of cauliflower, then broil until
deeply browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer
to a platter and cool for about 5 minutes.
Spoon tomato pulp over top, drizzle with
the chile-garlic oil, and sprinkle with pars-
ley and pine nuts. Cut into wedges, like a
cake, at the table, and offer lemon wedges
on the side. Serves 4 to 6.At the table, you cut it like a cake.Food TikTok: The thrills and chills of our new way to cook
Pan-ready tomatoes and fetaAthletes thirsting for a celebratory beer
after a long workout “have often faced
a devil’s choice,” said Tony Rehagen
in Bloomberg.com. Do you prefer a
watery light beer or a high- alcohol
IPA that might knock you out before
your shower? Fortunately, a very small
number of craft brewers are now mak-
ing “performance beers” with athletes’
recovery needs in mind, and some of
them are pretty tasty.
Harpoon Rec. League Hazy Pale Ale
This popular low- alcohol IPA
is “fortifi ed with protein-rich
buckwheat kasha, chia seeds,
and sea salt.”
Boulevard Easy Sport Sea
salt and tangerine peel put a
“slightly tart” fi nish on this
electrolyte- laden blond ale
from Kansas City.
Avery Brewing Pacer IPA
“This juicy, dry- hopped IPA
doubles down on wheat,
oats, and exotic hops while
weighing in at 100 calories.”Beer: The healthy choices