Recipes with Julie Van Rosendaal: Trendy, tasty TikTok pasta

Have you heard of TikTok baked feta and tomato pasta yet?

It seems to be the current "it" recipe on social media. With TikTok views in the millions and food blogs and traditional media outlets talking about it around the world, it has gone somewhat viral. And look, now we're talking about it, too. 

Though baked feta and tomatoes is not new, Finnish blogger Jenni Hayrinen is credited with making the pasta dish popular by posting it on her food blog back in 2018; it has since caught the attention of TikTok and other social media platforms.

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Though there are hundreds (thousands?) of versions out there now, the technique is pretty basic — one of the beauties of the recipe is its adaptability — various ingredients can be added and it's easily scaled to feed one, two or 10.

All you need is a suitably-sized baking dish, some tiny tomatoes, feta and olive oil and pasta. Sautéed zucchini noodles also apparently make a successful pairing.

Some people online have said they use Boursin or goat cheese instead of feta, which would also be delicious.

Here's how I did it: I tipped a couple pints of cherry tomatoes (which are juicier than grape tomatoes, though grape would work fine too) into a shallow baking dish, nestled in some chunks of feta, sprinkled the tomatoes with salt and drizzled the lot with good olive oil.

I opted for Macedonian-style feta, which is creamier than other varieties of feta. It can be dry and crumbly cheese, and creamier varieties will coat your pasta better.

Some people tuck in whole cloves of garlic, with or without skins, or add chopped fresh chilies or a pinch of dried red chili flakes — I tossed a few sprigs of thyme on top because I had them. A sprig of rosemary would infuse the tomatoes as they bake, too.

I was tempted to add some white beans to the mix.

Because my oven is currently not fully functional, and I like to kickstart things on the stovetop anyway, I set the pan over medium-high heat to get things going, then slid it into the oven, set at about 400˚F.

It baked for 20 minutes or so, while I cooked some chunky gomiti pasta, but any pasta shape will do, really — chunky or not.

Once the tomatoes had collapsed and released their juices into the pan and the feta was golden in spots, I tipped in the drained pasta. Some people set aside some of the starchy pasta water to help things along, which may come in handy if you have dry feta, less juicy tomatoes, or have been stingy with the olive oil.

You then gently stir to coat everything well — the partially melted feta and soft, oily tomatoes will coat the pasta. Mash any soft garlic cloves into the sauce as you go. If you like, add a handful of fresh basil leaves, or other torn greens, as you stir, and they'll wilt with the heat of the pasta and tomatoes. Yum.

• Check out Julie Van Rosendaal's full interview on the Calgary Eyeopener below: