This mushroom tomato pasta is a vegetarian meal that everyone will agree on! Perfectly roasted cherry tomatoes and mushrooms combine with feta cheese to make this incredibly luxurious and filling meal.
50g(½cup)pecorino, parmesan or other Italian hard cheese, see notes
50g(⅓cup)feta cheese, crumbled
1handfulfresh parsley leaves, chopped
pasta cooking water
For the cherry tomatoes
650g(1.5lb)cherry tomatoes, halved
4Tbspolive oil
1Tbspbalsamic vinegar
1.5Tbsphoney
2large clovesgarlic
For the mushrooms
4largeportobello mushrooms, sliced
4Tbspolive oil
4large clovesgarlic, minced
2Tbspfresh thyme
½lemon, zested and juiced
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 160C / 320F
Prepare the tomatoes. Make the marinade by whisking together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and honey. Scatter the tomatoes in a deep baking tray or casserole dish and pour the marinade on top. Use a spatula to mix everything together and ensure all of the tomatoes are coated. Place in the oven for 1 hour. Set the oven's alarm - watching the countdown will be useful for timing the next steps.
Once the tomatoes are in the oven, prepare the mushrooms. In a large bowl, toss together the mushroom slices with the olive oil, garlic, thyme, and the zest from the lemon (just the zest - the juice will come later) Scatter onto a baking tray or sheet pan and add them to the oven for the last 30 minutes of the cooking time. Move the tomatoes to the lower shelf and put the mushrooms on the top shelf.
Cook the pasta. 15 minutes before the oven ingredients finish, get your pasta boiling according to package instructions. When it's finished, reserve a cupful of the pasta's cooking water. Then drain the pasta and return it to the pan.
Remove the tomatoes and mushrooms from the oven. Squeeze the juice from the 1/2 lemon you zested over the mushrooms.
Add the tomatoes (making sure to scrape out all the juices in the pan too), mushrooms and parmesan to the pasta and toss to combine. Add a little pasta cooking water to help create a sauce from the tomato juices and parmesan. The amount you need will just depend how much the tomato juices and marinade have thickened and cooked away so just pour in a tablespoon's worth at a time until you like the look of it.
Add the parsley and the crumbled feta and toss through.
Serve into bowls and top with additional parmesan and parsley if desired.
Notes
Cheese - True parmesan cheese uses animal rennet, so I use a vegetarian approved pecorino or a "vegetarian hard cheese" to get a similar flavor.