These tik tok videos are overloading my Instagram page. At first I had no idea what this fuss was all about, the reels just kept coming and coming and coming and at about the stage where I just had enough of it all. I went onto tik tok to go see what all this fuss was about.

My first take was, nope, not going to make this. The tomatoes alone would send both my parents over the edge. My dad would get an imaginary stomach burning sensation from just looking at the tomatoes, my mother. This page is not long enough to list her opinions when it comes to visible pieces of tomatoe in her food.

When I make a curry I have to liquidize the tomatoe till it is watered down. Just let there be tomatoe flesh on her plate and she will pull her face and throw a tantrum like a 5 year old that she is full and that small not visible to the normal naked eye piece of tomatoe has put her off her food.

When I first learnt to cook, she would make me make curry gravy without tomatoe. Do you have any idea how much masala and spices you have to add to water to change its taste and make sure it thickens without evaporating? Now I just blend it till it’s just smooth like a baby’s bottom.

Now and then I blend it half way and there are pieces in and she just picks them out and then complains that it’s a very nice dish, expect it would have been better if there were no pieces of tomatoe floating about. She gives me the same uphill about onions. She doesn’t like onions on her plate either. Imagine cooking a curry without tomatoes and onions.

Not sure what kind of Indian she is, but I add onions, there is just no substitution for a chopped onion. I imagine I am chopping her head  (just kidding, please do not call the police) , when I chop the onions for the veggie food. This ensures that the onions are super-duper fine. There is no pleasing these old people that I call parents lol.

Back to this tik tok recipe.

I prepped my mother for an entire week that I was planning on making this dish come Friday lunch. For the entire week, she kept making herself nausea whenever I told her about it and showed her the punnet of cherry tomatoes I planned on putting in there. She kept telling me over and over again she wasn’t going to eat it and I can’t force her to and then she threated me by telling me if I don’t listen to her demands she will not allow me to cook for her. What can I say, it went in through the one ear and out through the other.

Friday arrive in all its heat wave glory and I made this dish for lunch.

Believe it or not my mother kept checking the oven as the aromas this little dish let off as it was cooking was mouthwatering.

I added a little more grated cheese on the top after the pasta was tossed in and popped it back into the oven to grill so that the extra cheese could melt.

The verdict, my dad as usual had absolutely no idea what he was eating. My mother, she loved it, she kept asking for more and claimed the left overs as hers, she even went as far and mentioning that I should try this dish again and maybe add in some vegan bacon or soya mince.

Of course she would like, if she didn’t then we had a problem, because as I was serving up her helping she stood at my elbow and made me use two forks to rake through her plate and remove every single ounce of visible tomato and then she double checked before she was satisfied and then and only then did she enjoy it. I myself loved it, it was super fun to make and extremely easy, one dish for everything, just pop into the oven and wait.

Ingredients:

• 1 x punnet cherry tomatoes.
• 3 x round discs of feta.
• 4 x tbsp. olive oil.
• Handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly torn.
• 1 x tsp dried Italian herbs.
• 2 x tsp red chilli flakes.
• 3 x cloves garlic, peeled.
• Salt and pepper to season.
• A generous amount of cooked macaroni.

Method:

• Place all the ingredients, except the cooked macaroni in an oven proof dish.
• Season generously with salt and pepper .
• Place uncovered in a preheated oven and bake at 180 degrees for 30 – 45 minutes or until the feta is soft and the tomatoes are starting to bubble and burst.
• Remove from the oven and using a fork, break up the feta and smash the tomatoes.
• Give everything a good mix and add the pasta.
• Toss once again
• If you want, you sprinkle over a cup full of cheddar cheese and pop back into the oven to melt or you can omit this step.
• Garnish with a few more fresh basil leaves before serving.