I’ve been following the account liemessa on instagram for years. I first stumbled across this account when I was mindlessly scrolling and saw a beautiful chocolate cake with cherries, it looked so good and I had to make it! After clicking on picture I found out that belongs to Jenni Hayrinen who is a Finnish food blogger and no surprise, she writes everything in Finnish. Thank goodness for google translate! My husband is Finnish, so I instantly followed her hoping for some new recipes and her feed is beautiful. I didn’t care that I couldn’t read what she was saying!
So fastforward to 2021 and people are talking about TikTok pasta on the news. I saw it and instantly new it was unnifetapasta. I’ve made that! I don’t even have TikTok! Does this make cool?!?!? Um, nope I’m still me. I just recognize a good recipe when I see one. The recipe is super simple and you can’t go wrong with cheese and tomatoes with pasta.
1 lb of your favorite pasta, I used spaghetti 1 block (7 oz- 10oz ) greek feta cheese 1/2 cup olive oil 1 red chili pepper, seeded and sliced 750 g cherry tomatoes (if you cook on the vine, remove before serving) 4 garlic cloves, chopped Black pepper Salt Bunch of fresh basil leaves, Chiffonade
Optional: 1 tsp honey
1. Pour about 1/4 cup of olive on the bottom of the baking dish. Place the whole feta block in the center of the dish.
2. Chop the red chili pepper and add on top of feta cheese. Place the cherry tomatoes on the sides and roll around in oil.
3. Pour additional oil over tomatoes and feta. If you are using the honey add on top of feta now.
4. Sprinkle fresh ground black pepper and season with pinch of salt.
5. Bake in 400 F for 15-20 minutes in the middle rack. Turn the heat to 440 F, move the dish to the upper rack and bake for another 10 minutes.
6. While your feta bakes, cook the pasta al dente according to cooking instructions.
7. Break the feta a bit and combine with tomatoes. Mix the sauce with pasta. (Add a ladle of pasta water and a tablespoon of butter if you want)
Serve immediately and top with plenty of basil leaves.
That’s it! Easy enough to make on a weeknight and looks fancy enough for a Sunday Supper. If you use tomatoes on the vine, remember to remove from the stem before serving. Makes for pretty pictures but is not good eats. Enjoy!
