It can be easy to get bogged down in the same old recipes. We wanted to try something new, so inspired by Greek / Turkish / Persian food, we thought we would have a go at creating some meze (a selection of small dishes) to share with friends. 

We started with some g&t's (keep an eye out for an upcoming post on our favourite gin!) and our favourite Manomasa crisps (serrano chilli and yucatan honey, they're finger licking good) as is tradition with our friends. 

We moved to the table which was a riot of colour and delicious looking and smelling dishes; it made you want to dive into everything immediately. But, before we get to the food, of course, we need to talk about the wine. James chose a red for us to enjoy with this feast. A new wine on our website, we enjoyed Tintilla de Rota from Bodegas Forlong. Hailing from Cadiz, Tintilla de Rota has an interesting heritage in that it is actually quite rare; this is because there is an American naval base and airport at Rota, which meant that many vineyards are no more. This wine from Bodegas Forlong has a fun label with a chameleon (maybe? it's some form or reptile) on it; the vineyard is certified organic and they use biodynamic methods. This Tintilla de Rota is a gorgeous cherry colour, its very easy to drink and the cherry, black pepper and fresh mint notes go really well with this meze dinner! 

The food! We whipped up a number of dishes; I won't go into perfect detail but hopefully this will act as a spring board for you to do something similar. 

The dishes:

Roasted aubergine slices, served with a tahini dressing (tahini, lime & lemon juice and a touch of water), pomegranate seeds and pine nuts. Cover the aubergine in oil, garlic and lemon juice before roasting to really up the flavour! 

Tomato Salad. We bought some beautiful big red, black and yellow tomatoes, chopped them and added salt, extra virgin olive oil and oregano. 

Green Salad. Avocado, mint, parsley, pomegranate, cucumber, spring onions. Chop them all and mix it all up in a big bowl. 

Sesame Seeded Hallomi bites, served with honey. Cube a hallomi, dip the cubes in flour (first), then egg and then sesame seeds and pop them into a deep frying pan full of oil. Fry them and drizzle them generously with honey.

Spinach and Feta Filo Cigars. Three main ingredients, super simple, so delicious. Once you have wrapped the spinach and feta in the filo pastry, be sure to coat them in an egg wash, and sprinkle with sesame or nigella seeds for extra crunch. 

Lamb Kebabs, served with salsa verde. Cover your lamb in oregano, thyme and rosemary and get them on the BBQ for maximum flavour! We served ours with homemade salsa verde, but you could always buy some if you don't happen to have some in your fridge as we did!

Flatbreads. We just bought a pack of these and chopped them up, perfect for mopping and shovelling all of the above into hungry mouths!

Homemade tzatziki. Greek yoghurt, cucumber, lots of mint - mix. 

We had a fabulous evening with great friends, and this meal and wine really made our evening. Give it a go, you won't be disappointed!