Baked Feta and Tomato Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 block of feta (200 g)
• 600 g cherry tomatoes
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 400 g fusilli or penne
• a handful of basil
• a squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Build the dish

   Put the block of feta in the middle of a baking dish, surround it with the tomatoes and unpeeled garlic, and pour the oil over everything with the chilli and oregano. Use a dish that only just fits — spread too thin, the tomato juices evaporate instead of pooling into a sauce.

2. Roast until it collapses

   Roast at 200°C until the tomatoes have burst and the feta is soft and browned at the edges. Do not stop early; the browning is where the flavour is.

   35 min

3. Cook the pasta

   Boil the pasta to al dente while the dish is in the oven, and save a mugful of the water.

4. Mash it into a sauce

   Squeeze the garlic out of its skins into the dish and mash everything together with a fork until it turns into a thick pink sauce. It looks wrong until the moment it comes together.

5. Toss and loosen

   Fold the drained pasta through, adding pasta water until it is properly coated rather than claggy. Finish with basil and a squeeze of lemon to cut the richness.