From My Kitchen

No, I don’t use TikTok, but yes, this is the viral pasta dish that was seemingly everywhere last year. I resisted for a while then caved in and gave it a whirl after it chased me around Instagram for months and months – turns out it’s excellent, super easy peasy, and has become a mid-week staple for us. As ever I’ve made a few tweaks (mainly involving adding veg and herbs), but this is a winner and is possibly the simplest thing I’ve ever made. Serves 4.

Ingredients

400g conchiglie, penne or other pasta

750g cherry tomatoes

Optional diced courgette

1 tbsp dried oregano

A few ripped basil leaves

Plenty of black pepper and a little salt

Good slug of olive oil

200g block feta cheese

Method

1. Heat your oven to 200C fan, and grab a large oven proof dish.
2. Tip in the tomatoes, courgette if you’re adding it (I do, its greenery!), oregano, ripped basil, a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper.
3. Drizzle with a good slurp of oil and mix well to combine.
4. Remove the feta from the packet and nestle it in the middle of the dish, surrounded by the toms. Give it an extra drizzle of oil and herbs (see photo below).
5. Roast in the hot oven for 30-40 minutes or until the toms are soft.
6. In the mean time cook and drain your pasta. Reserve a little of the cooking water.
7. Squish each tomato with the back of a wooden spoon (watch out, they’ll be as hot as the sun and will do their best to get you), mix them with the feta until you have a creamy sauce, then stir in the cooked pasta, adding in a little of the pasta cooking water if you need it to make the sauce more saucy.
8. Job done.