Baked Feta with Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant, and Quinoa
Two blocks of feta baked until soft and browned with cherry tomatoes and eggplant, then crushed into a rough sauce and folded through quinoa with lemon and mint.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
This started as the baked feta everyone was making a few summers ago, and it turned into the lunch I rely on most in August, when the tomatoes are cheap and I have no interest in standing over a stove. One dish goes in the oven, the quinoa cooks while it does, and the two get folded together at the end. I make a full pan on a Sunday and eat it warm the first day and cold from the container after that. It travels well, it does not need reheating to be good, and it is one of the very few lunches I never get tired of.
The oven is doing something specific to each of the three things in the dish, which is why they all go in together. Feta does not melt the way a young cheese does, so a hot oven browns the top and leaves the inside creamy enough to crush with the back of a fork. The cherry tomatoes go in whole and stay whole until their skins split, at which point they give up a startling amount of sweet juice. The eggplant, given enough oil, collapses to silk at the center and browns at the corners. Crush all three together while the dish is hot and you have a sauce without ever having made one.
Folding the hot quinoa into that dish is the whole trick, because the grains take up the tomato juice and the olive oil and keep the cheese from sitting in a puddle at the bottom. Between the feta, the quinoa, and a half cup of pumpkin seeds there is enough protein here to carry an afternoon, and enough olive oil through it to keep every bite interesting. Lemon zest and torn mint go on at the very end, off the heat, where they stay sharp and green. Do not stir them in early. Both go dull and dark the moment they meet a hot dish.
Ingredients
- 10 oz feta, in two blocks
- 4 cups cooked quinoa, hot
- 3 cups cherry tomatoes (about 1 lb), left whole
- 1 medium eggplant (about 1 lb), cut into 3/4-inch cubes
- 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
- 5 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus the zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, torn
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Fill the dish: Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Put the whole cherry tomatoes and the eggplant cubes in a 9 by 13 inch baking dish and toss them with 4 tablespoons of the olive oil, the dried oregano, the black pepper, and the salt. Push them to the edges, set the two blocks of feta in the middle, and spoon the last tablespoon of oil over the cheese.
- Bake it hard: Roast 30 to 35 minutes, until the tomato skins have split and their juice is bubbling around the edges of the dish, the eggplant is browned at the corners and soft in the middle, and the top of the feta is golden in patches. The cheese should look slumped rather than melted.
- Toast the seeds: While the dish bakes, put the pumpkin seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat and toast them 3 to 4 minutes, shaking the pan often, until they pop and smell nutty. Tip them onto a plate straight away so they stop cooking.
- Crush it into a sauce: Take the dish out and crush the feta into the tomatoes with the back of a fork, working the pieces through the juice until you have a loose, streaky sauce. Do this while everything is hot, because the cheese firms up again as it cools.
- Fold in the quinoa: Add the hot cooked quinoa to the dish and fold everything together until the grains are coated and no dry patches are left. Add the lemon juice and taste it. It should be salty from the cheese and sharp from the lemon.
- Finish and serve: Scatter the torn mint, the lemon zest, and the toasted pumpkin seeds over the top and serve straight from the dish while it is still warm.
Variations
- Add greens: Two big handfuls of spinach or arugula folded in with the hot quinoa wilt down in seconds.
- Olives: A handful of chopped kalamata olives added before it bakes gives the dish more salt and a darker edge.
- Grain swap: Millet or brown rice in place of the quinoa, though quinoa holds the juice best of the three.
- Herb change: Fresh dill or basil in place of the mint takes the whole dish somewhere greener and softer.
- A little heat: A pinch of cayenne over the feta before it bakes gives the finished dish a slow warmth underneath.
Storage & Leftovers
This keeps for 4 days in a sealed container and is one of the rare warm dishes I like just as much cold. The quinoa goes on absorbing tomato juice overnight, so it firms up a little in the refrigerator. Loosen a cold portion with a spoonful of olive oil and a fresh squeeze of lemon.
To reheat, warm a portion in a covered skillet over low heat for about 4 minutes with a tablespoon of water, or microwave it for 90 seconds. Add the mint after it is hot rather than storing it mixed through, since the leaves turn dark and bitter sitting in the cold.
It does not freeze well. Feta turns grainy and crumbly on thawing and the eggplant goes to mush. If you want a head start, cook the quinoa and toast the seeds up to 3 days ahead and keep them in the refrigerator, then bake the dish fresh on the day you want it.
Notes & Tips
- Buy feta in brine: A block in brine bakes creamy underneath a browned top. Pre-crumbled feta is coated to stay loose and dries into pebbles in a hot oven.
- Leave the tomatoes whole: Halved tomatoes give up their juice early and it evaporates. Whole ones hold on to it until the skins split, and that juice is the sauce.
- Give the eggplant enough oil: Eggplant drinks oil early and gives it back once the cells collapse. Underdressed cubes stay dry and squeaky no matter how long they roast.
- Crush while it is hot: Feta firms as it cools and stops giving. Take a fork to it the moment the dish leaves the oven.
- Fold in hot quinoa: Cold quinoa cools the whole dish and clumps. Time it so the grains go in steaming and take up the juice properly.
- Lemon and mint last: Both go dull under heat. Off the burner they stay sharp, and you will find you reach for the salt less.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Feta, quinoa, and pumpkin seeds are what make this a meal. The cheese brings the salt and the creaminess, the quinoa soaks up the tomato juice and gives the dish its body, and the seeds bring the crunch along with a good share of the protein.
- Feta is a brined cheese, firm enough to hold its shape in a hot oven and creamy underneath once it has been in there a while. It carries calcium and protein, and the brine is what gives it that clean, sharp saltiness you taste before anything else.
- Cherry tomatoes go in whole and stay that way until their skins split, which is the moment they give up the sweet juice that becomes the sauce. Cooking concentrates their lycopene, and the olive oil around them is what carries it.
- Pumpkin seeds toasted in a dry pan until they pop bring a crunch that survives the folding, and they are one of the better sources of magnesium and zinc you can add to a dish by the spoonful.
- Torn mint and lemon zest go on at the very end and are what lift a rich, salty dish. Both fade under heat, so adding them off the burner is the difference between a bowl that tastes bright and one that tastes only of cheese.
- As you eat, notice how the tomato juice and the crushed cheese have worked their way into the grains, and slow down over the first few bites so the mint and the lemon have time to register.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a different cheese?
Goat cheese works and gives you something tangier and softer, though it slumps more than feta does and you will lose the browned top. Buy feta in a block in brine rather than the pre-crumbled kind, which is coated to stay loose and dries into pebbles in a hot oven.
My dish came out watery. What went wrong?
The tomatoes probably needed longer. They release most of their juice in the last five minutes, and until that juice has bubbled and reduced a little the dish will be loose. Give it another five minutes uncovered, and make sure the quinoa goes in hot and dry rather than damp.
Can I make it ahead for the week?
Yes, and it is one of the best make-ahead lunches I know. Bake the dish and fold in the quinoa, then refrigerate the whole thing and add the mint, lemon zest, and seeds to each portion as you serve it. Four days is comfortable.
Does this fit a low-FODMAP lunch?
It does. Feta is a brined cheese with very little lactose left in it, and quinoa, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and pumpkin seeds all sit comfortably at these portions. Nothing in the dish leans on onion or garlic, so the recipe reaches you whole.