Baked Feta Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 2 pints Cherry tomatoes
• 8 oz Feta cheese, in one block
• 4 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
• 5 cloves Garlic, peeled and left whole
• ½ tsp Red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp Dried oregano
• ½ tsp Kosher salt
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• 12 oz Semolina pasta (dry)
• 4 cups Baby spinach, packed
• ½ cup Fresh basil, torn
• 1 tbsp juice Lemon

Method

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Tip the tomatoes and whole garlic cloves into a baking dish, pour over 3 tablespoons of the oil, and toss with the pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper.
2. Clear a well in the middle, set the block of feta in it, and pour the last tablespoon of oil over the cheese.
3. Roast 35 minutes, until the tomatoes have collapsed and split and the feta is soft and browning at the corners. If the top is still pale, give it 3 minutes under the broiler — those browned edges are most of the flavour.
4. Boil the pasta in well-salted water to just under package time. Save a cup of the water before draining.
5. Mash everything in the baking dish together with a fork. The garlic cloves will have gone sweet and will smash to nothing. Stir in the spinach while the dish is still hot so it wilts.
6. Add the pasta and enough cooking water to loosen it into a sauce that clings. Finish with lemon juice and torn basil off the heat.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

Reserve a handful of the roasted tomatoes before mashing and spoon them whole over the top. Whole blistered tomatoes still burst in the mouth; mashed ones do not.

🧒 For the kids

This is one of the easier sells in the whole book — it reads as cheesy pasta. Leave out the pepper flakes and stir a spoonful of the sauce through their portion before adding the spinach.

🌿 From the garden

This is the August recipe for a cherry tomato plant that has gotten away from you. Sungold and Black Cherry both roast beautifully and one plant will supply this all summer.

🥡 Leftovers

Keeps 3 days. It tightens up in the fridge — reheat with a splash of water in a skillet rather than dry in the microwave.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.