Have you seen the viral TikTok baked feta pasta recipe where you bake tomatoes and feta in olive oil, then stir into pasta? Well, I've tested and perfected a few tweaks to add bags of extra flavour, mellow out that sourness, and make the sauce smooth and creamy.
Preheat the oven to a nice hot 220C (200C fan / 430F).
Grab a large roasting tray and place the feta in the centre.
Throw in the tomatoes, sliced red onion and sliced red pepper to surround the feta.
Now scatter in the garlic, aiming to distribute it all over the dish.
Scatter on the chilli flakes, salt and pepper, then dress everything with 3/4 of the olive oil (save the last for serving). If you're using honey (see notes) then go ahead and drizzle that over the feta.
Bake for 20 minutes, stir the vegetables gently so that they roast evenly, then pop back into the oven to roast for another 10-15 minutes until the feta is golden and the veggies are just starting to char at the edges.
When your feta and veggies are back in the oven after stirring, you can bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook your pasta. That way, everything's ready to go at about the same time.
Give everything in the roasting tray a really good mix. Then add the cream cheese and mix again.
Now drain your pasta but reserve a full mug of the pasta water.
Throw the drained pasta into the tray and stir, then add the pasta water bit by bit while stirring. You'll probably need 200-250ml (7-8.5 floz) to get a lovely creamy sauce.
Finish the dish with a scattering of freshly chopped parsley.
Serve to bowls and garnish with the remaining olive oil. You can also add extra salt, pepper, parsley and chilli flakes, if you like.
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Notes
This dish is tangy and acidic as that's the nature of feta, but the natural sugars in the veg come out during roasting and that helps mellow it out. This recipe calls for cherry tomatoes as opposed to salad ones. This is because cherry tomatoes are naturally sweeter. However, outside the sunnier months, tomatoes bought from the store can be a lot less sweet than in the summer season. Taste a raw tomato and if it's lacking in sweetness, go ahead and add the honey to the dish at the stage directed. Of course, if the tomatoes are sweet but you just love honey-roasted feta, they you can go ahead and add it anyway. Just be aware that the exact sweet/sourness will vary according to the ingredients used.