Feta-Nudeln (baked feta pasta)

Method

1. 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.
2. Nestle the block of feta into the centre. Scatter with oregano.
3. Bake 30 minutes, until the feta is soft and slumped and the tomatoes have burst and released their juices.
4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in well-salted water according to the packet instructions, reserving a cup of the starchy cooking water before draining.
5. 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.
6. 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.