Cheese, cheese, cheese! I love cheese, in all shapes and forms. Everything from a mellow Gouda to a sharp, gooey, smelly, green, moldy cheese. There are so many different dishes you can add cheese to that will taste different depending on what kind of cheese you use. Today I give you my super simple, easy to make, sort itself in the oven, baked feta cheese in tomato sauce.
This recipe is based on my tomato sauce base and a block of feta cheese, olives, olive oil and oregano. Stick it in the oven and then its done. Add couscous or quinoa to make it more substantial or why not a nice green salad.
Even if you don’t have any pre-made tomato sauce, it is so easy to make and requires no special ingredients. Most likely you will have most of the ingredients in your cupboards already.
This recipe works even if you have your own tomato sauce that you use, mine is just a recommendation, or even use a store bought sauce straight from a jar.
This is a perfect dish to eat both hot and cold. When it is hot, the baked feta cheese is deliciously soft and will melt in your mouth. If you bring it for lunch, it will taste just as good cold, even though the texture of the cheese is different.
Substitutes
If you don’t like feta cheese, there are other types of cheese you can try such as halloumi or paneer. Both these cheeses benefits from being pan fried first, so it does add another step to the cooking process. Choose what you like best and what your time allows.
I use black olives, however you can substitute them for green olives, or Kalamati olives, or omit them all together. You can also try to put other things in the tomato sauce, such as spinach or other large, leafy vegetables. Only your imagination can stop you.
Freezable
The tomato sauce itself is freezable, but I would not freeze the feta cheese in a large block. It is possible to do so, but it does not keep its texture very well. However if you leave the feta cheese unopened, it will last for quite some time in the fridge. Perfect if you bought it, and then realise that you will not be able to use it.
Baked feta cheese with tomato sauce
Ingredients
Basic tomato sauce – You will need one third of the tomato sauce for this recipe, freeze the rest and use later.
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 cans of 400g each crushed tomatoes
- 100 ml red lentils
- 200 ml water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp oregano
- 1 tsp sugar
- A pinch of white pepper
Oven bake
- 1 block of feta cheese 200g
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp oregano
- 100 gram black olives halved
Side dish
- 100 ml couscous
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 150 ml boiling water
Instructions
- Chop one large onion and mince the garlic.
- Fry the onion and garlic in vegetable oil in a deep pot for about five minutes, until the onion is soft.
- Add the canned tomatoes, lentils and water, give a good stir.
- Add salt, oregano and sugar.
- Bring the sauce to boil, then let simmer under lid 15-20 minutes.
- Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.
Bake in the oven
- Set the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
- Spread one third of the tomato sauce in the bottom of an oven safe glass pan and place the brick of feta cheese on top.
- Freeze the rest of the tomato sauce for another night.
- Cut the black olives in halves and spread them on top of the feta cheese.
- Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle oregano on top, before putting in the oven for 20 minutes.
- While the feta bake is in the oven, boil the water for the couscous.
- Mix the couscous and the oregano in a bowl with a lid, pour the boiling water over and put a lid on the bowl and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Fluff it with a fork and add some olive oil if desire.
Variations
If you don’t have any feta cheese at home, but some left over vegetables, why not make my healthy tomato sauce and serve with the couscous or spaghetti.