Food Network
Whether you’re an avid TikTok user or just a casual Instagram consumer, you’ve probably seen the feta and tomato pasta taking the social media world by storm. It has an interesting history. In 2018, Finnish blogger Tiiu Piret (@tiiupiret) shared a recipe for a pasta containing prosecco, baked feta and tomatoes. In 2019, another Finnish blogger, Jenni Häyrinen (@liemessa), shared her simplified version of the dish on her blog and Instagram using the hashtag #uuifetapasta. (Afterward, sales of feta in Finland apparently increased by 300 percent.) American food influencer MacKenzie Smith (@grilledcheesesocial) eventually heard about the dish from a friend with a Finnish boyfriend. In January 2021, she posted a translation of the popular recipe on her blog and Instagram, which led to it going viral in the United States. It’s easy to see why the recipe has achieved such fame: Cherry tomatoes and a whole block of feta are baked until soft and melty, then tossed with garlic, basil and cooked noodles for a beautifully cheesy dish. We opted to use a short tube pasta so the sauce can get trapped inside each piece and added a pinch of flaky sea salt on top to perfectly balance the dish.
