I’m tired. You’re tired. When we get home from work, school or other tiring activities, we’re tired. And even worse, we’re hungry.
I don’t remember Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell off the top of my head, but I’m pretty sure one of them includes assembling a meal while tired and hungry.
The easy way out of this predicament is frozen chicken nuggets or a microwave quesadilla, but I’ve always been picky about my food. I’m also a big fan of vegetables and slightly obsessive about getting my protein in, so the toddler meals just don’t cut it anymore.
A few years ago, Gigi Hadid’s tomato feta pasta recipe went viral on TikTok. I saw it and thought it seemed underwhelming, but when I was studying abroad and struggling to find meals that I could make with limited fridge space, limited cooking space, limited ingredients and limited utensils, I decided to give it a try.
The recipe is essentially just a block of feta, a carton of cherry tomatoes and olive oil all baked together and mixed into pasta. I jazzed it up a little by adding some frozen diced onions and garlic powder, but once I got back to the United States, I more or less forgot about the recipe.
After some internet surfing the other night, I realized I wanted to spice up my diet a little and add in more interesting veggie combos. I make a killer sandwich, but one can only put things between two slices of bread for so many meals in a row.
I added a block of feta and a container of cherry tomatoes to my cart, but before hitting “purchase,” I threw in some bell peppers and broccoli, too.
If you read my last EC Eats, you know I’m not great with measurements. Not great is an understatement. I actually believe I am above using measurements, this belief stemming from the fact that I don’t like washing more dishes than absolutely necessary.
So I will give you this recipe in Type B terms. Take it or leave it.
You will need:
- A block of feta
- Cherry tomatoes
- Bell pepper (color of your choice)
- Broccoli
- Onion (I did not have this, but it would’ve been good)
- Olive oil
- Pasta (I used zoodles — frozen, duh)
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic powder (or actual garlic, if you’re fancy)
- Red pepper flakes (for pizazz)
First, chop up your bell peppers, broccoli and onion. You should really wash them first, but I understand if you don’t.
Toss them into a nice little oven-safe dish with your cherry tomatoes. Pour a thick drizzle of olive oil over the top of all your veggies. Remember, the olive oil is more afraid of you than you are of it, so don’t skimp.
Pour all of your spices over the top, and mix everything together with your hands. Washing your veggies may be negotiable, but washing your hands is not, unless you want to be the next victim of norovirus.
Then go ahead and plop your feta block into the dish. Make sure it’s settled in nicely, then pour more olive oil over the top. You don’t need to drown your ingredients, but you want a nice amount in there for flavor and such.
I hope you read my mind and preheated your oven to 400 degrees before this, because now it’s time to bake your dish. I baked it for about 40 minutes, I think. I believe I put it in for 30 minutes and decided it wasn’t brown enough, so I just left it in for another 10.
When you have about 10-15 minutes left on the timer, go ahead and boil your pasta. I’m not going to tell you how to make pasta. I’m hoping you can read a box.
Once you take your sauce out of the oven, go ahead and squish everything up with a big spoon. If you plan to keep some of this as leftovers, I recommend pouring the sauce on top of your serving of noodles to eat it, then storing the noodles and sauce separately. Otherwise, just go ahead and dump the noodles into the sauce dish.
I thought this was pretty fantastic-tasting, and even better because every ingredient can be purchased at Aldi.
P.S. I’m still patiently waiting on my invite to “Top Chef,” but I’m sure the letter just got lost in the mail.
Price can be reached at [email protected].
