Mini Barley Flatbreads with Tomato Confit & Homemade Farmer's Cheese: Cretan Dakos, with a Difference, for the 5 Star Makeover Greek Mezze Challenge

This theme for this month's 5 Star Makeover Challenge - hosted as always by the lovely and talented Natasha of Five Star Foodie and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks - is Greek mezze, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I don't know about what it's like in your neck of the woods, but where I live it is hot and sticky as Hades, and light bites are just about all I want to make, or eat.

I decided to riff on a classic Cretan mezze, dakos. In its original form it's simply a barley rusk that's been rehydrated with water (or sometimes ouzo) topped with olive oil, grated tomato, fresh oregano,  and feta or aged myzritha cheese. But this is a makeover challenge, so I got a little fancy and made my own cheese, a tomato confit, and barley flatbread:

The bread cooks in a skillet and the confit cooks at 300 degrees F, so it didn't heat things up too badly. I followed this recipe for the flatbread, only instead of powdered milk and water I used 2 cups of whey that I had left over from making the cheese. I  loved how it turned out: nutty from toasted barley flour, soft and fluffy on the inside thanks to the yeast, and a lovely smell from the addition of dark sesame oil. It was even good the next day.

For my cheese, I heated 1/2 gallon of whole milk to 180 degrees, turned off the heat and added 1/4 cup white vinegar and a pinch of salt. After giving everything a good stir and allowing the milk to separate into curds and whey (about 10-15 minutes), I strained the curds into a cheesecloth (don't forget to save the whey!) and tied the cheesecloth/curd parcel to a wooden spoon, which I placed over a stockpot and allowed to drain, while refrigerated, for several hours. To plate, plop your cheese ball onto a serving dish, press it into a disk and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and fresh oregano:

But the real star of this dish was the confit. Ah, the confit ... when Poppa Trix took a bite he said "This is like tomato candy," and that pretty much sums it up.

I used 2 pints of orange and red grape tomatoes from the farmers market, and dumped them in a single layer onto a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet. To this, I added 5 whole garlic cloves, several sprigs of fresh oregano, salt, pepper, a whisper of sugar, and enough olive oil to coat everything. 1 hour and 45 minutes later, after turing the tomatoes a couple of times, I had this:

Don't discard those brown bits! They are pure caramelized gold. Once this stuff cools to room temperature, it will take all of your willpower to not devour it immediately.

I loved my dakos with just the tomato confit and cheese, but it was also fabulous with a bed of arugula, as pictured in the top photo.

Make sure to check out the mezze feast on Friday in Lazaro's wrap up - I guarantee you'll come away with some ideas for your weekend eating!

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5 Star Foodie & Lazaro Cooks!