Baked Feta Pasta, Trail Version
Feta powder, sun-dried tomatoes, and pasta in one pot. No oven, no drained water.
- calories
- 700
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 127
- protein
- 22 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Short dried pasta | 3.5 oz | whole wheat if you like; fusilli or small shells cook evenly |
|---|---|---|
| Sun-dried tomatoes | 1/3 cup | dry-packed, snipped into strips at home |
| Powdered feta or dried cheese powder | 1.5 oz | feta powder is sold for popcorn seasoning; Parmesan powder also works |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Dried oregano | 2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Dried lemon peel | 1/2 tsp | or a squeeze from a lemon juice packet |
| Dried basil | 1 tsp |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil. Drop in the pasta and the sun-dried tomatoes at the same time. The tomatoes need the full cook to soften.
- Boil for the time on the pasta package, stirring often so nothing welds to the bottom.
- Kill the heat when the pasta is done and most of the water is gone. Leave a few tablespoons in the pot. Do not drain it.
- Stir in the cheese powder, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. Keep stirring until the starchy water and the powder turn into a sauce.
- Pour the oil over, add the lemon peel and basil, and stir once more. Let it sit two minutes off the stove to thicken.
The original bakes a block of feta under tomatoes at 230 C for half an hour, then mashes the two together into a sauce. None of that survives contact with a stove that boils one pot. What does survive is the idea: salty cheese plus concentrated tomato, emulsified with starchy pasta water.
So the tomatoes go in dry and rehydrate in the same water that cooks the pasta, and the feta becomes cheese powder added off the heat. Measuring the water matters more than usual here. Drain it and you have thrown away the sauce; use too much and the powder never thickens. Six hundred milliliters for this much pasta leaves roughly the right amount behind.
Packing
Pasta, tomatoes, and all the dry seasoning except the cheese go in one bag. Cheese powder rides in its own small bag and goes in last, off the heat, or it turns grainy. Oil in a leakproof dropper bottle inside a second bag.
Variations
- A foil packet of tuna or chicken stirred in at the end pushes protein past 40 g.
- Swap half the sun-dried tomatoes for tomato powder if you want a redder, smoother sauce.
- Red pepper flakes if the oregano alone feels flat.
https://www.matprat.no/oppskrifter/kos/baked-feta-pasta