Cherry Tomato and Feta Pasta

You’ve probably seen a few variations of the recent “Feta and Tomato Pasta” craze. It’s so easy, and delicious.

You’ve probably seen a few variations of the recent “Feta and Tomato Pasta” craze. It’s so easy, and delicious, and you can certainly “make it your own” with additional ingredients, like spices, veggies or more protein! Regardless of how you might jazz this up, it’s a PERFECT way to use all those juicy cherry tomatoes and the basil you’re growing in your AeroGarden!

Ingredients:

1 Block Greek Feta Cheese
Approximately 2 pints (about 16 ounces or so) of cherry or grape tomatoes
Approximately 2-3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp red chili flake (or more if you like more spice)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 fresh black pepper
2-3 tbs chopped fresh basil
12 ounces of dried, thin pasta

Directions:

Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees

Toss the tomatoes and garlic in half of the olive oil. Pour them into a 9X13 baking dish and sprinkle with salt.

Place the Feta cheese in the middle of the tomatoes and drizzle with remaining olive oil. Sprinkle red chili flake and black pepper over the entire dish. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the tomatoes have burst and the garlic has softened

While it bakes, cook your pasta according to the package directions. Be sure to save about 1 cup of the pasta water before straining. Once the cheese and tomatoes are done baking, mash them all together with a fork, and mix in your strained pasta. Add the pasta water a little at a time if the sauce seems to be dry. You can also mix in your basil at this time if you’d like it a bit wilted and mixed in with the sauce, or you can save it and sprinkle it on top as a garnish immediately before serving.

Tip: if you’d like to add more veggies or ingredients to this dish, you can bake them along with the tomatoes and and cheese, or prepare them separately and mix them in at the end. Enjoy!