Baked Feta Pasta

🧂 Ingredients

• 5 Roma tomatoes (diced into 1” pieces, (1 lb 5 oz, 4 cups) $1.20*)
• 3 garlic cloves (minced, (1 Tbsp) $0.30)
• ½ yellow onion (diced, (1/2 cup) $0.35)
• 1 Tbsp fresh parsley (minced, $0.09)
• ½ tsp salt ($0.01)
• ¼ tsp black pepper (ground, $0.01)
• ⅛ tsp red pepper flakes ($0.02)
• 7 oz. block feta ($5.44**)
• ½ cup olive oil ($1.50)
• 8 oz. rotini pasta (half a box, (uncooked) $0.53)
• 1 cup fresh spinach (packed, $0.46***)
• ½ Tbsp honey ($0.25)
• ½ cup reserved pasta water ($0.00)
• 0.25 oz. fresh basil (torn, $0.89)

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1

   Gather ingredients. Preheat oven to 400℉.

2. 2

   Wash and dice tomatoes into 1” pieces

3. 3

   Mince garlic, parsley, and dice the halved onion.

4. 4

   Mix tomatoes, garlic, onion, parsley, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes in a 9x13” casserole dish, making a space in the middle for the block of feta.

5. 5

   Add feta.

6. 6

   Pour olive oil over the feta and the tomato herb mixture. Transfer baking dish to oven for 40 minutes, uncovered.

7. 7

   Meanwhile, cook ½ box of rotini, reserving ½ cup of the pasta water.

8. 8

   Remove feta and tomatoes from the oven after 40 minutes.

9. 9

   Add fresh spinach.

10. 10

    Stir the fresh spinach, honey, and reserved ½ cup of pasta water to the hot baking dish, stirring the feta and tomatoes together and wilting the spinach with their residual heat.

11. 11

    Pour the rotini into the baking dish of sauce and mix it together.

12. 12

    Top with torn fresh basil.