Baked Feta Pasta

Heat the oven to 200°C, or 180°C fan. Tip the cherry tomatoes and the unpeeled garlic cloves, lightly crushed, into a baking dish just big enough to hold them in a crowded single layer, add two thirds of the olive oil, the oregano, the chilli flakes and plenty of freshly ground black pepper, and toss.

Push the tomatoes to the sides and sit the drained block of feta in the gap. Pour the remaining oil over the cheese and grind more pepper on top. Add no salt; the feta brings enough for the whole dish.

Bake for 35 minutes, until the tomato skins have split and slumped into their own juices and the top of the feta is soft and browned at the corners.

About 12 minutes before the dish comes out, cook the rigatoni in a large pan of well-salted boiling water until 1 minute short of al dente. Scoop out 200 ml of the cooking water before draining.

Squeeze the soft garlic out of its skins into the dish and discard the skins. Crush the feta and the tomatoes together with a fork until they come together into a rough, streaky sauce with pieces of tomato still visible.

Add the drained pasta and 100 ml of the cooking water and stir hard for 1 minute. The starch in the water pulls the oil and cheese into a sauce that coats the pasta rather than sitting under it. Add more water a splash at a time if it looks tight.

Tear in the picked basil leaves, taste for pepper and serve straight away.