Baked Feta Pasta with Confit Tomatoes

Ever since quarantine, my sister has me hooked on TikTok, something I never thought would happen! I could be hours scrolling on TikTok, learning clever hacks for my day-to-day life, and finding constant inspirations for new recipes.

I couldn’t get through my daily TikTok scroll without seeing this baked feta pasta trend (it's all over the place!) and I figured I’d give this pasta a try.

According to my internet research, this recipe originated from a Finnish food blogger Jenni Häyrinen, she developed the dish back in 2019, naming it “Uunifetapasta,” which means oven-baked feta pasta. Recently @feelgoodfoodie, @grilledcheesesocial, and many others have been recreating this dish, and it's been a viral hit!

To be honest, I can't resist a good cheesy pasta, and while I was a bit skeptical about baking a block of feta, I still needed to try it. So I’m joining the rest of TikTok and taking this pasta recipe for a spin.

I made a few adjustments, like adding more pasta water to thin out the sauce! And yes, you do need that much olive oil! But, the best part about this dish is that it all comes together in 30minutes!

Prep time: 5min - Cook time: 25min - Total time: 30min

Serves: 4-6ppl

Ingredients:

1lb short-grain dried or pasta of choice

16 ounces (or 3 cups) cherry tomatoes

8- ounce good quality block feta cheese

½ cup olive oil

4 garlic cloves, peeled

5-6 fresh basil leaves, chopped, plus more for serving

½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.

• Pour half of the olive oil in an oven-safe dish, place the cherry tomatoes, the garlic cloves, season with salt, and toss to combine.

• Place the feta block in the middle of the baking dish surrounded by the cherry tomatoes and garlic cloves, add the remaining olive oil on top of the feta.

• Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cherry tomatoes burst, and the feta cheese starts to melt.

• While the feta bakes, cook pasta according to package instructions (remember to salt your water!).

• Drain the pasta, and reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

• Remove the feta and tomatoes from the oven, add basil leaves, and using a fork toss everything to combine, breaking the cheese apart and making sure to burst the roasted garlic cloves.

• Transfer the cooked pasta to the baking dish, add pasta water 1/8 cup pasta water, and toss to combine. Add as much pasta water as needed to thin out the sauce (you might not need to use it all).

• Garnish with basil and serve warm.

Check out a step by step video of this recipe on my

Instagram or TikTok page: @bitesofperfection

I learned about this recipe on TikTok from @feelgoodfoodie, this is an adapted recipe.