Roasted tomatoes with crispy filo feta
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 4
This is the perfect summer dinner. Wrapping the feta in filo creates a brittle shell around the salty cheese, which turns deliciously tender in the oven.
Ingredients
- tomatoestomatoes: 1kg/2lb 4oz mixed tomatoes, larger tomatoes halved and any smaller than a golf ball left whole
- olive oil: 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
- feta: 2 x 200g/7oz blocks feta, at room temperature
- filo pastry: 2 sheets filo pastry
- thyme: 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- mint: 10 fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced into ribbons
- honey: 2 tsp runny honey
- basil: handful fresh basil leaves, to garnish
- black pepper: salt and black pepper
To serve (optional)
- bread: crusty bread
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7.
Arrange any halved tomatoes cut side up in a roasting tin in one layer, so there’s no overlap, then nestle the smaller whole tomatoes amongst them. Drizzle over the olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Slide the tomatoes into the middle of the oven to roast for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the feta. Pat one block of feta dry with kitchen paper, then place the block 2cm/¾in in from the short edge of one of the slices of filo pastry. Brush the filo all over with olive oil. Top the feta with half of the thyme and mint and 1 teaspoon honey. Fold the filo around the feta like a present, tucking in the edges of the pastry before the last fold. Brush all over with more olive oil. Repeat with the remaining feta, filo, herbs and honey.
After the tomatoes have had their time, add the two feta parcels to the roasting tin, seam-side down on top of the tomatoes, then cook for a further 15 minutes.
Remove the tin from the oven and sprinkle the basil over the top. Serve while the feta is still warm, with bread for scooping up any remaining sauce, if you like.
Recipe tips
Any leftover tomatoes and feta can be turned into a quick pasta sauce, or stirred through grains for lunchboxes.
