Are you having family over for the long weekend? How about serving a delicious, hearty, oven-roasted feta and mushroom pasta.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 400g pasta of choice
- 200g block feta cheese
- 1 large red onion
- 500g portabellini mushrooms
- ± 6 fresh thyme sprigs
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
To serve:
- Fresh thyme leaves
- Parmesan cheese
Method:
- Preheat oven to 200˚C fan on.
- Slice mushrooms fairly thickly and slice the red onion into petals.
- Place the block of feta into the center of a large roasting dish.
- Scatter the red onion and mushrooms around the feta.
- Tuck the thyme sprigs amongst them.
- Season everything well with salt and pepper and drizzle liberally with olive oil.
- Toss to coat.
- Roast in the oven for ± 20 minutes.
- While the mushrooms and feta are roasting, cook the pasta.
- Cook in a large pot of salted water until al dente.
(If you are worried about getting the timing just right and prefer to drain the pasta, reserve 2 cups of pasta water before draining)
- When the mushrooms are ready, remove them from the oven and add the lemon zest.
- Stir everything together, adding a few splashes of pasta water as you go to create a creamy feta sauce.
- Using tongs or a strainer transfer the pasta directly into the baking dish.
- Toss to coat in the creamy sauce adding as much pasta water as needed to keep things silky.
- Season well with freshly ground black pepper and a good squeeze of lemon juice.
- Serve topped with fresh thyme leaves and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
