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TikTok Inspires Feta Frenzy With Viral Pasta - Yahoo
Feb. 22—Finland is known for some interesting dishes, like sautéed reindeer, fish pie and salty licorice.
Pasta hasn't been high on the list, though it is on their menus and served often enough. So, who would have thought that a pasta dish of tomatoes and feta cheese would throw this country into the culinary spotlight?
Blame it on — or thank — TikTok. What the Finnish call "uunifetapasta" (baked feta pasta) has become one of the most sought-after recipes on social media, even leading to a shortage of feta cheese in Finland at one point.
Finnish cook Tiiu Piret posted a version on her blog in early 2018. Jenni Hayrinen, a blogger in Helsinki, tweaked it and shared it in 2019. The recipe was then picked up in the U.S. By MacKenzie Smith, another blogger, who posted both a video and the recipe in 2020. The rest is history. The hashtag #bakedfetapasta has had more than 52 million views on TikTok, and is still going strong.
So, what's its appeal? Several things: First, it's incredibly easy to make. The most challenging thing might be buying the ingredients — cherry or grape tomatoes, a block of Greek feta cheese and fresh basil, assuming you have pasta and fresh garlic on hand. If not, pick those up, too.
It's important to the success of the recipe to purchase Greek feta, made with 70% sheep's milk. Feta made with cow's milk is not as creamy, and may make the sauce too dry. It's also crumblier and has a slightly sour taste. If you can't find a block, you can use feta crumbles, just pile them in the middle of the tomatoes before putting the dish in the oven. Some have used goat cheese instead with good results.
As for what pasta, use the shorter varieties with ridges, like rotini or rigatoni. Shells work well, too. The sauce will stick to them better than spaghetti. Also, only use 8-10 ounces. More than that, and the sauce won't cover it adequately.
Mix cherry tomatoes with 1/2 cup olive oil, the slices of garlic, and a little salt and pepper in a bowl (or right in the baking dish). (Cooks warn not to skimp on the olive oil.) Some have added a sprinkle or two of red pepper flakes, then place the mixture into a flat casserole dish. Put the feta chunk in the middle on top of the tomatoes, then put the whole thing in a hot oven. This is where the magic happens.
When the tomatoes are soft and the feta is browned, bring the dish out, mix everything together, add the basil, and mix it with the pasta. (If the sauce is gritty and broken, you've used the wrong cheese. Try mixing in a little hot pasta water to help.)
As a pasta lover, I had to give this a try. I was a bit hesitant because I'm neither a goat cheese nor a feta lover, but I hoped that the tomatoes, along with the garlic, would temper the assertiveness of the feta. It did. The balance between the sweet cherry tomatoes and the salty, creamy feta took it over the top. While I will likely never have sautéed reindeer, I will definitely make this Finnish original again. Try it. You will, too.
Baked Feta Pasta
2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, halved lengthwise
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Kosher salt
1 block (7 ounces) Greek feta cheese
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
8-10 ounces dried pasta
Fresh basil leaves for serving
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, combine the tomatoes, garlic and half the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and toss to coat. Place the feta in the center of the tomato mixture and top with the rest of the olive oil. Sprinkle the whole dish with red pepper flakes if using, and a little black pepper. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the tomatoes have burst their skins and the garlic is soft. The feta should also be browned.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta to al dente stage. Save 1 cup of the water and drain the pasta. Mash the feta and tomatoes with a fork until evenly combined. Mix with the pasta. Add a little of the pasta water if it seems too dry. Taste and adjust seasonings. Divide among pasta bowls and top with plenty of basil leaves.
Post Bulletin food writer Holly Ebel knows what's cookin'. Send comments or story tips to life@postbulletin.Com.
How To Make TikTok's Baked Feta Pasta Recipe - Bustle
If you like pasta, feta cheese, easy dinner ideas, or all of the above, you're going to want to try this baked feta pasta recipe that's going viral on TikTok. If you don't like pasta, feta, or easy dinner ideas... Is everything OK?
Food TikTok is the definitive TikTok. It is to thank and/or blame for the popularity of everything from whipped coffee to multi-layered quesadillas. Now, FoodTikTok has anointed its latest viral star: baked feta pasta. Lactose intolerance? I don't know her.
Whether you've rekindled your love of cooking over quarantine or need a low-maintenance dinner idea, this dish is as simple as it is delicious. If you want to give the recipe a try, here's what you'll need:
From there, it's pretty simple. To a baking dish, add your tomatoes, feta, and garlic. Generously drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. While that's baking, cook your pasta. After baking at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 35 minutes, take out your dish, mix in your pasta, and top with basil. That's all. No cutting or chopping. No babysitting your food while it's baking. If you can boil noodles and stir, you can make this recipe.
If you want to get fancy with it, you can easily customize the dish. Add red pepper flakes for some spice. Drizzle with honey for added sweetness. After mixing in the pasta, top it with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, and throw it back in the oven until it's browned. If you want to bulk it up a bit, the recipe would pair well with chicken, roasted veggies, or crispy chickpeas.
There's some disagreement on the origin of the recipe. However, according to TODAY, one of the early iterations of the dish was created by Finnish food blogger Jenni Häyrinen in 2019. Her Uunifetapasta, which roughly translates to "oven-baked pasta," hasn't been changed much after making the rounds on Tiktok. Though, her original recipe includes chili flakes and makes the garlic optional.
Some TikTokers claim that the baked feta pasta recipe is the reason Finland "ran out of feta cheese." However, there doesn't appear to be any evidence of that shortage beyond TikTok. In fact, the global dairy industry saw a decrease in demand last year due to the pandemic. So, you shouldn't be too hard-pressed to find some feta.
If feta isn't your thing or your grocery store manages to run out of feta, the recipe has also been made with goat cheese and burrata. A blessed baked cheese to one and all!
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Did A Viral Pasta Recipe Really Cause A Feta Cheese Shortage?
A baked feta pasta recipe that went viral on TikTok has become so popular that there are reports of feta cheese shortages.
The dish, known as "TikTok Pasta," is surprisingly simple, undeniably gorgeous and totally delicious, so it's no wonder social media has gone absolutely gaga over it. The ingredients include cherry tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, basil, pasta and, of course, feta cheese.
The recipe was seemingly created by Finnish food blogger Jenni Häyrinen in February 2019. Known as UuniFetaPasta, it became such a phenomenon in Finland that it apparently caused a shortage of the white cheese. Now that the meal has made its way stateside, is it possible that we could see a feta shortage here? Here's what we know about the fate of feta in the United States and abroad as of this moment.
Debunking Finland's feta shortageFirst of all, was there really a feta shortage in Finland? The 2019 shortage is certainly being cited, including on feelgoodfoodie's TikTok video that has more than 8 million views and is one of the original posts responsible for the recipe's popularity.
"For an easy weeknight pasta dish that's fuss-free and flavorful, you have to check out this baked feta pasta with bursting cherry tomatoes. The dish is pretty much hands-off, and all the magic happens in the oven. Made with just a handful of ingredients, it's no wonder this dish went viral in Finland!" Yumna Jawad wrote. I learned about this recipe from my friend Grilled Cheese Social, who made it based on a viral recipe called #uunifetapasta made famous in Finland by Liemessa and originally shared by Tiiu. It became so popular that the grocery stores ran out of feta cheese!! I had to give it a try and I see what all the rage is about!!"
However, trying to find any actual evidence of the shortage is difficult, as most of the articles discussing the dearth of the cheese don't cite anything definitive.
The closest we got to a clear answer was from Häyrinen's blog Liemessa in which she reflects on the recipe's initial popularity and referenced the supposed shortage. "The feta cheese sales went up 300 percent here, the shops were running out of baked feta pasta ingredients," wrote Häyrinen.
So while there did seem to be a sudden high demand that may have far outreached the supply at the time, no Finnish or international cheese officials (yes, those exist) have backed this up.
Is feta cheese's sparsity in the U.S. Overexaggerated too?As for what's happening in local grocery stores, there are reports on social media of cheese aisles running low on feta following the recipe's hype.
However, as with Finland in 2019, cheese experts believe feta stock is fine. Even Cheese Market News — a totally real thing — isn't getting reports of a run on feta. "We have not heard anything about this yet," Alyssa Mitchell, editor-in-chief of Cheese Market News, tells Yahoo Life.
Based on the thousands of accounts of people who've tried the recipe successfully, Mitchell might be right. (If the recipe is any good is a whole other story.)
Even if the TikTok bump is true, there's always the alternative to buying feta cheese — DIY!
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