As The FIFA World Cup Continues, We Celebrate Morocco’s Surprise Win With This Vegan Version of Baked Feta Dip.

Congratulations to Argentina, France, Croatia, and Morocco for making it to the FIFA World Cup semi-finals next week in Qatar! 

“Celebrations were held across Israel, the West Bank and Gaza on Saturday evening as ecstatic soccer fans celebrated the Moroccan national team’s historic victory over Portugal at the World Cup quarterfinals,” the Times of Israel wrote.

“Morocco beat the Portuguese squad 1-0 in Qatar, knocking mega-star Cristiano Ronaldo out of the tournament and making the Atlas Lions the first African and first Arab team to reach the World Cup semifinals, set to face tournament favorites France on Wednesday.”

In honor of Morocco, and with the help of our sponsor Vgarden, based in Israel and expanding globally, I put together this dip featuring vegan Feta cheese and vegan olive cream cheese spread, reimagining a healthier version of one of Morocco’s favorite appetizers, adding extra flavor with Harissa.

Very easy to make, and the ultimate for World Cup watch parties. Serves 6-8 people. Plan on 40 minutes, from start to finish.

Ingredients

6 ounces Vgarden Feta, crumbled

3 ounces Vgarden olive cream cheese

16 ounces roasted red peppers (drain if you are using from a jar)

3 tablespoons tomato paste

3 tablespoons harissa

1 large garlic clove

½ cup sliced green olives

½ cup sliced black olives

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ cup chopped parsley

¼ cup

Olive oil for grilling and drizzling

4 medium size flat breads (pita, naan, or other)

Smoked paprika for finishing bread

Walnut halves and parsley for finishing

Moroccan green tea

Fresh mint

Make it and Bake it

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Combine roasted red peppers, harissa, tomato paste, garlic, kosher salt and olive cream cheese in a food processor and blend sightly.

Spoon half of mixture into a glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Sprinkle half of feta cheese on top.

Spoon second half of mixture as a layer on top of the feta.

Top with remaining feta and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so.

In the meantime, combine olives, parsley olive oil – salt to taste.

After the dish starts to bubble in the oven, turn broiler to HIGH, and broil for 2 minutes.

Brush the pita or naan with olive oil, and grill using a stovetop grill pan. Add sprinkling of smoked paprika, salt and pepper to taste.

Top baked feta with olive mixture, walnut halves, and garnish with parsley.

Serve and enjoy with Moroccan green tea with mint!

Wishing all the finalist team good luck this week – I’ll be sharing another World Cup party recipe tomorrow.

Catie