Melissa Clark's Baked Lemony Feta With Tomatoes and Sweet Peppers

This is my take on the whole baked feta cheese trend. I prefer a pasta-less version that is intensely flavored with lemon, coriander seeds, and roasted onion. The tomatoes and peppers add loads of color and sweetness, and the salty feta mellows as it bakes underneath a gloss of olive oil.

Mix up the vegetables as you like here. Green beans, brussels sprouts, broccoli or cauliflower florets, broccolini, thick asparagus spears, or mushrooms can stand in for the tomatoes and/or the peppers.

Serve this while the feta is still soft and melty, with some crusty bread to scoop it all up. This might be one of the easiest and prettiest dinners in this whole book, and it’s definitely one of my favorites. Serves four.

Ingredients

1 lemon
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 large red, yellow, or orange bell peppers (or a combination), sliced ½ inch thick
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1 small red onion, cut into 1-inch wedges
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for garnish
2 feta blocks (6 to 8 ounces each)
1 large fresh rosemary sprig
½ cup torn fresh basil leaves (or use mint or cilantro), for garnish

Directions

Heat the oven to 450ºF.
Cut half of the lemon into thin slices or wedges. Save the other lemon half for serving.

Using a mortar and pestle or the flat side of a chef’s knife and a cutting board, lightly crack the coriander seeds.

On a rimmed sheet pan, combine the peppers, tomatoes, onion, lemon slices, cracked coriander seeds, salt, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of black pepper.

Drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the oil and toss until evenly coated. Nestle the feta blocks and rosemary sprig among the vegetables and lightly drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Roast until the vegetables are tender and crisp, and the feta is golden brown, 22 to 30 minutes.

Squeeze the reserved lemon half over everything and scatter the basil on top, then drizzle with more oil, if you like. Serve hot or warm.

– From “Dinner in One: Exceptional & Easy One-Pan Meals,” Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House, 2022.

Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the Fall/Holiday 2022 issue of Brownstoner magazine.

Related Stories

• Recipe: Vanessa Li’s and Bowen Goh’s Miss Piggy Fan Club Cocktail (Gemini)
• Carla Lalli Music’s Pan-Roasted Carrots With Chorizo Nubbins
• Chitra Agrawal of Brooklyn Dehli Shares a Recipe for Khara Huggi or Pongal

Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.