The recipe

Scrub a couple of small beetroot and slice them very thinly. Put the beetroot in a mixing bowl and squeeze over the juice of a lemon, 2 tbsp of white-wine vinegar and 1 tbsp of liquid honey. Toss the beetroot in the dressing, cover and set aside for 30 minutes.

Crumble 200g of feta cheese into a mixing bowl. Rinse and dry 80g of rocket leaves, then roughly chop enough of them to give you 3 or 4 tbsp of chopped leaves. Add the leaves to the feta with 250g of natural yogurt and a grinding of black pepper. Set aside in the fridge. Reserve the remaining leaves.

Peel and finely crush 2 cloves of garlic then mash with 40g of butter. Warm the garlic butter in a shallow pan with 2 tbsp of sesame seeds until the seeds are golden. With the pan over no more than a moderate heat, dip 4 thick slices of bread into the butter and let them cook until golden, spooning the butter and seeds over the slices as they cook. Turn and lightly brown the other side. Lift the toasts out of the butter and drain briefly on kitchen paper.

Divide the creamed feta between 2 plates, add the reserved rocket leaves, beetroot and the slices of sesame toast. You could add a few pea shoots if you have them or watercress.

The trick

The creamed feta needs to be cold, the sesame garlic toast hot. Make the toast at the last minute, when everything else is ready. Once the bread goes into the sizzling butter, keep a close eye on it, spooning the sesame seeds over the bread and pressing them down on to the surface. As you serve the toast, spoon any remaining butter and sesame over the slices.

The twist

You could add herbs to the creamed feta. I like the idea of chives and basil. I might also suggest you use the creamed feta as a filling for flatbread. It would work well with a warm rolled-up pitta, for instance, stuffed with rocket and the pickled beetroot.

Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @NigelSlater