Baked feta pasta

14 February 2021, 06:46 PM

AdagioM

Baked feta pasta

quote:
Originally posted by Nina:
quote:
Originally posted by AdagioM:
That sounds good!

I’ve made this a couple times; orzo, feta, shrimp...it has fennel seeds in it. Ottolenghi’s Orzo with Prawns, Tomato, and Marinated Feta

That sounds fantastic! Then I realized it was an Ottolenghi recipe and I'm sold. Do you have any of his cookbooks? I've been making things out of the Jerusalem book... yum.

Also, I'm not a huge fennel fan, but in it's place I'm OK with it. Do the fennel seeds predominate or just add an interesting flavor note?

I think you could cut it back a bit, and still get the spirit of it.

The second time I made it, I didn’t read carefully, and put *all* the toasted fennel seedds in the marinating cheese. That was too much! Especially because I had to toast a bit more to put in the cooking orzo.

So cut it back to 3 tsp of fennel seeds, divide equally, and I think you’d be pretty pleased!

I don’t have any of his cookbooks, but now I’m tempted.

I agree that I could definitely cut back on the olive oil in the feta pasta, too. Maybe as much as half?

14 February 2021, 07:08 PM

wtg

Yes, I was thinking a 1/4 cup of olive oil rather than 1/2. And 12 ounces of pasta.

I wanted to make it today but alas, no fresh basil. And I think that's an important ingredient.

I bought Ottolenghi's Jerusalem years ago, put it with my many other cookbooks, and it just got lost in the shuffle. I don't think I ever cooked anything from it but I just pulled it out and looked at it and am like "duh"....

Nina, what are your favorite recipes? Maybe you can jump start me....

14 February 2021, 08:10 PM

Nina

Unfortunately I'm not where my cookbooks are at the moment! But I do remember that his method for making rice was great... brown the rice, bring to a boil, turn off, cover with towel, something, something... also (not sure if this was him or another person--sprinkling sumac on top after plating for color and a bit of flavor is fab)

Also I made some sort of chicken/lemon meatball thing that I recall being very tasty.

After that I'm in a senile fog....

I'll check when I'm reunited with my books.

15 February 2021, 11:56 AM

jon-nyc

I didn’t think it was ridiculously oily. If you go 12oz of pasta my guess is 1/4 cup will not be enough.

You could always add some later. But you definitely want the tomatoes and feta coated while baking.

15 February 2021, 12:22 PM

wtg

Variations on a theme. The mushrooms and butternut squash look kind of interesting.

https://www.wellandgood.com/baked-feta-recipes/

Also this one with gnocchi:

https://getpocket.com/explore/...source=pocket-newtab

17 February 2021, 12:46 PM

wtg

Finally made the original recipe.

I didn't cover the baking dish with foil and had a problem with the tomato/feta/oil combo spattering. That was likely my fault; I didn't dry the tomatoes very carefully after washing them.

We also added capers and olives, and I sprinkled some crushed red peppers on mine.

We thought it was tasty but not over the top fabulous. But my reaction might be colored by the mess I have to clean up in the inside of the oven....

18 February 2021, 12:29 PM

AdagioM

Melissa Clark at NYTimes Cooking has turned the feta pasta into a one pan version. (Instagram video link.) She adds dry pasta and hot water into the dish mid-cooking and puts it back in the oven. I don’t think this would be an improvement; it looks soupy.

The comments are interesting; there’s a whole lot about where the recipe came from, and giving credit where credit is due. Oy!