Feta-Nudeln (baked feta pasta)
A block of feta baked whole in a dish of cherry tomatoes and olive oil until it slumps and the tomatoes burst, then mashed together into an instant sauce for pasta. The feta needs a proper hot oven and enough time to soften all the way through, not just brown on top, or it stays crumbly rather than turning creamy.
Prep10 min
Cook30 min
Oven200°C
Servings4
Christoph's baked feta pasta, the feta given a full 30 minutes to genuinely soften through rather than just browning on top.
Ingredients
Written for a 24 × 18 cm dish
Units
Temperature
Servings
Baked feta
- 500 g cherry tomatoes rounded
- 200 g block feta, not the crumbled kind rounded
- 60 ml olive oil rounded
- 2 garlic cloves, left whole, skin on rounded
- 3 g dried oregano rounded
- to taste freshly ground black pepper rounded
- 400 g short pasta rounded
- 15 g fresh basil, torn (optional) rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- Heat the oven to 200°C. Scatter the cherry tomatoes and whole garlic cloves in a baking dish, drizzle with the olive oil, and season with pepper.
- Nestle the block of feta into the centre. Scatter with oregano.
- Bake 30 minutes, until the feta is soft and slumped and the tomatoes have burst and released their juices.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in well-salted water according to the packet instructions, reserving a cup of the starchy cooking water before draining.
- Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins into the dish and discard the skins. Mash the feta and tomatoes together with a fork right in the baking dish, until roughly combined into a chunky sauce.
- Toss the drained pasta through the sauce, loosening with a splash of the reserved pasta water if it looks too thick. Scatter with basil before serving.
Notes
- Give the feta the full baking time, even if it looks done sooner. The top can brown before the inside has actually softened; a knife should meet no resistance all the way through before it is ready to mash.
- Use a block of feta, not the pre-crumbled kind. Pre-crumbled feta is often coated to prevent clumping, which stops it from softening and melting into the sauce properly.
- Mash right in the baking dish rather than transferring to a bowl, which keeps all the released oil and tomato juice in the sauce instead of leaving it behind.
- This is best made fresh; the sauce separates and the pasta softens further on reheating, though it is still edible the next day.
Ingredient substitutions
- Cherry tomatoes can be halved larger tomatoes, though cherry tomatoes burst more reliably and evenly.
- Short pasta can be any shape; a long shape like spaghetti works too, tossed the same way.
- A pinch of chilli flakes scattered in before baking is a common, easy addition for heat.
From Christoph Mayer