Baked feta pasta with blood orange and olives

Baked feta pasta with blood orange and kalamata olives looks, tastes and feels like a luxury, but is actually the easiest way to make pasta in the world.

Blood orange pasta

After sharing with you last week's blood orange cake, I just wanted to keep playing with blood oranges.

They are just so beautiful, and there's just something special about that blood orange taste: tangy, deep, sweet and very slightly bitter. It's such a special fruit that we get for such a short while, so why not enjoy it?

Plus, I love the combination of oranges, tomatoes and creamy cheese! So when I started thinking of them together, I had to try incorporating them into my newest discovery, TikTok feta pasta, and make baked feta pasta with blood oranges and Kalamata olives.

What is TikTok feta pasta?

Baked Feta Pasta is a new viral TikTok feta pasta recipe that teaches people how to make pasta in the oven featuring just a handful of ingredients: a block of feta, some cooked pasta, cherry tomatoes and herbs.

Taking that simple recipe, I turned it into a delicacy: baked feta pasta with blood orange and kalamata olives that looks, tastes and feels like a luxury, but is actually the easiest way to make pasta in the world.

In its core, it's just a riff on pasta casserole; but when you bite into this quivering mess of burst tomatoes, creamy pasta, salty olives and that zesty blood orange taste, you'll be shocked by the symphony of flavors that's playing in your mouth!

Where did the baked feta pasta come from?

Baked feta pasta was first popularized b Finnish blogger Jenni Hayrinen in September 2020. Her original recipe had it all: beautiful photos, a simple approach, and a captivating name. I mean, who wouldn't want to try baked feta pasta??

The recipe was released to the Internet, was pinned a few times, and received many likes on Instagram. And then, it would have died... if it hadn't been for TikTok feta pasta.

All of a sudden, in January, Baked Feta Pasta became known as the TikTok feta pasta, or even more simply as the TikTok pasta. Millions of views and versions later, and I don't think there's now one person left in the world who hasn't heard of baked feta, or baked pasta with feta cheese and cherry tomatoes.

So why do I think you need to make blood orange pasta?

Simply because this pasta with baked feta recipe it's delicious, delicious, delicious.

There's just something about the alchemy of feta as it bakes in the oven, and later on joins with tomato sauce tinged with tangy blood orange taste and interspersed with kalamata olives.

This TikTok feta pasta is:

• simple
• easy to make
• soooo beautiful
• requires little active work
• feels luxurious
• low in calories (feta is not fatty!)
• special with its use of blood oranges
• requires mostly simple ingredients

What does baked feta pasta taste like?

When it meets the oven, baked feta becomes creamy, like the best French sauce, only tangy and exquisite. The rubbery texture of feta falls apart, its skin hardens on the outside, and the inside turns into delicious goo.

Mix all that with tomatoes, perfectly cooked al dente pasta, salty olives and the juice of blood oranges, and you just know this baked feta recipe is going to taste DIVINE.

Ingredients

• pasta of your choice (fusilli or penne work very well)
• feta
• cherry toamatoes
• blood orange
• kalamata olives
• olive oil
• salt & black pepper
• oregano / basil (optional)

Equipment

• Large pot for cooking pasta
• Casserole dish
• Oven

How to make Baked feta pasta with blood orange and olives

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and reserve 1 cup pasta water.

In an oven safe casserole dish, place block of feta in the middle. Arrange tomatoes and blood orange slices around the feta, and throw in olives. Drizzle generously with ½ cup of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. If using dried oregano, sprinkle now.

Throw into the oven at 400F for 20 mins. Then set to grill setting (or 450F) and let broil for another 10 mins.

Remove from oven, and smash tomatoes and feta thoroughly with a fork. Remove orange rind. Add pasta and fresh basil, if using. If sauce is too chunky and doesn't coat pasta well, add reserved pasta water.

Mix thoroughly and serve pasta immediately.

Scaling the recipe

Since the TikTok feta pasta recipe is so simple, there's nothing easier than scaling its quantities. Using one package of pasta, as stated here, will make 8 portions. If you want to feed more or less, simply increase the rest of the ingredients in accordance.

Storage and Making Ahead

Unlike common opinion, I actually think that making pasta in advance is totally fine - if it's this pasta, that is. Once this baby gets mixed with the creamy feta, blood orange taste and tomato sauce, it stays delicious for a while!

Store baked feta pasta in a sealed container in the fridge for 5 days. To reheat, simply pop it in the microwave - the feta will war up and get gooey all over again. It won't taste like it did when it first came out of the oven, but trust me, it'll still be exceptionally yummy.

Dominant flavors

The dominant flavors in this blood orange pasta recipe are feta, olives, tomatoes and blood oranges.

If you're not a fan of olives, feel free omit them. You can also use regular oranges in place of blood oranges. Regular tomatoes can be used in place of cherry tomatoes - just dice them into cubes. But don't skip the tomatoes or the feta - that's where all the flavor is at!

Adaptations

Blood orange and baked feta bruschetta - you can use the delicious sauce that you get from this baked feta recipe to top bruschetta. It's soooo good!

Garlicky feta pasta - Add 2 cloves of garlic to the sauce as you make it.

Accompanying Dishes

With its tangy, tomato flavor, this pasta with baked feta recipe will go great with the following accompanying dishes:

I love serving it with feta bulgur salad or crispy feta-tinged Brussels sprouts. It goes very well with baked salmon or pan-fried salmon.

Other Pasta Recipes

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