Kopanisti Mykonou (Κοπανιστή Μυκόνου)

Kopanisti Mykonou is the peppery cheese of Mykonos and the Cyclades, beaten soft with olive oil and served as a meze that wakes up the whole table. It isn't whipped feta. It isn't a polite white spread. It is a ripened cheese, salty and sharp, with a bite that comes from time, kneading, and the dry island air.

The method is simple because the cheese is not simple. Let it lose its refrigerator chill, then mash it by hand with olive oil until it softens but keeps its weight. Whip it in a machine and you flatten the thing that makes it itself. A fork is enough. Good olive oil, and patience.

On Mykonos it often meets tomato on a barley rusk as mostra, but the cheese remains the point. The region is the dish's surname here. If you have true Kopanisti Mykonou PDO, use it plainly and proudly. If you don't, make something else today rather than pretending a tub of mild feta has the same old bite.