Baked Feta Pasta (The original from Liemessa)

 Here is TikTok’s famous new viral recipe for baked feta pasta.
 Created by Finnish blogger Liemessa.
​Make this your own with different add ins like shallots and different herbs.

What you'll need

​1 lb / 450 g italian durum wheat pasta (any kind of pasta you want)
1 block (7 oz / 200 g) greek feta cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 red chili pepper (use red pepper flakes if you can't find red chilies)
500 g cherry tomatoes (3+ cups)
(4 garlic cloves if you wish)
black pepper
salt
bunch of fresh basil leaves

Pour some olive on the bottom of the baking dish. Place the whole feta block on top. Chop the red chili pepper and add on top of feta cheese. Pour more olive oil on top. Place the cherry tomatoes on the sides and roll around in oil. Grind some pepper and season with pinch of salt.

Bake in 400 F / 200 C for 15 minutes in the middle rack. Turn the broiler on high, move the dish to the upper rack and use the broil for another 10 minutes. Caution! This might cause the fire alarm to go off, mine does that every time. (My whole kitchen was filled with smoke!  She wasn't kidding)

Cook the pasta al dente according to cooking instructions. (Save a half cup a pasta water)
​If you used cherry tomatoes with stems, remove them. The stems are merely for the instagrammable look, so plain cherry tomatoes will do fine.

Smash the feta a bit and mix with tomatoes. Mix the sauce with pasta and add plenty of basil leaves.

Tip!  Garlic goes well with baked feta pasta. To add garlic cut four garlic cloves in half lenghtwise, toss them in same time as the tomatoes and roll in olive oil.

There are tons of extra add-ins that would be delicious.  I added fresh oregano in with the basil and next time I'll throw in some sliced shallots. Add a half cup of the pasta water to the sauce.