Description
Adapted from Liemessa’s viral hit recipe for baked feta pasta.
Notes:
- Local friends, if you can get your hands on Maplebrook Farm feta, it’s a real treat. They sell it at the Niskayuna Co-op.
- If you want to turn this into the viral pasta recipe, use 4 more tablespoons oil (I cut the amount of oil in half) and boil a pound of pasta. Save the pasta cooking liquid. Toss the cooked pasta with the finished roasted tomato-feta mixture. Thin with pasta cooking liquid if necessary.
- If you want to toss this with spaghetti squash, keep the proportions the same, and toss with the roasted strands of one spaghetti squash: halve the squash crosswise, scoop out the seeds, season with salt and pepper, then roast cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 45 minutes at 350ºF. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing the squash from the skin.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 lb. (450 to 500 g) cherry tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 1 small shallot, optional, thinly sliced
- 1 to 2 small hot chilies, optional, thinly sliced or a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- flaky sea salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 7 ounce (200 grams) block of feta, see notes above, cut into two slabs
- handful of fresh basil
- bread for serving, I’ve been making this focaccia a lot recently
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400ºF. Place one rack in the middle of the oven. Place one rack at the very top, close to the broiler.
- Pour 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into an 8- or 9-inch baking dish (or something similar). Add the tomatoes, garlic, shallots, and chilies. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and pepper to taste. Toss to coat. Add the feta. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Crack more pepper over top to taste.
- Transfer pan to your oven’s middle rack for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes, transfer the pan to the top rack, and switch to your oven’s broiler setting. Broil on high for 5 minutes (or more or less), keeping a close watch the entire time. While the tomatoes broil, heat up some bread — I’ve been doing this in the toaster oven but you probably could get away with putting the bread on the very bottom rack of your oven while the tomatoes broil.
- When the tomatoes are blistered to your liking, remove the pan from the heat. Toss in a handful of basil and stir gently to combine. Serve with slices of warm bread.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
