This pasta recipe was the talk of the town a few years back and it’s still going strong. I wanted to give it a go to see what all the rage was about. It’s made by oven roasting a block of feta with cherry tomatoes to create a salty and creamy sauce for your pasta. The original recipe is from a Finnish blog here
PREP TIME 5 MIN COOK TIME 25 MIN
INGREDIENTS FOR 2-3
- 300g spaghetti, fettuccine or pappardelle
- 200g feta
- 400g cherry tomatoes (of different colours)
- extra virgin olive oil
- 3-4 or more garlic cloves
- salt and pepper
- peperoncino (optional)
- dried origano
- fresh basil
- Preheat oven to 200 C and cook the pasta al dente according to package instructions.
- Pour some olive oil on the bottom of a baking dish and place the block of feta on top. Add the chopped peperoncino and the origano on top of the cheese and pour some more olive oil on top. Now place the cherry tomatoes and garlic cloves around the feta, swirl them in the olive oil and season with pepper and a dash of salt.
- Bake in 200 C for 15 minutes, turn the heat to 225 C, move the dish to the upper rack and use grilling mode for 10 minutes. Don’t let the tomatoes burn.
4. Break the feta and mix with tomatoes. Add the cooked pasta and toss well to combine. Garnish with fresh basil leaves.
Tip: next time I’ll remove the stems before putting the tomatoes in. They look nice in the photo but are a drag to remove. Also I would try half feta cheese and half ricotta because even though I love feta as is, I found the baked feta a bit too salty and tangy for my taste. But definitely try the recipe!
BUON APPETITO!