Ingredients
Method
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it lightly, about half what you would normally use. Feta and olives are both cured and bring plenty of salt to the dish. Cook the spaghetti to al dente.
- Before draining, scoop out 1 cup of the pasta water and set it aside. This is what turns the feta into a sauce, so don't skip it.
- While the pasta cooks, put 1 cup of the crumbled feta in a large bowl. Add about 1/2 cup of the hot pasta water and mash with a fork until it becomes a thick, smooth paste. It will look lumpy at first, then come together.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let it brown.
- Add the tomatoes and cook 2-3 minutes, until they begin to collapse. Stir in the olives, cook 1 minute more, then remove from the heat.
- Add the drained hot spaghetti to the bowl with the feta paste and toss hard, adding pasta water a splash at a time, until it turns glossy and creamy and coats every strand.
- Tip in the tomatoes and olives with their oil, then the parsley and lemon zest. Toss again. Taste before adding any salt. Top with the remaining feta and black pepper, and serve immediately.
Notes
Feta is acid-set and brine-cured, which gives it a tight protein structure. It softens with heat but never flows the way mozzarella does, so stirring crumbles into hot pasta just gives you warm crumbles. Mashing it with hot starchy pasta water builds an emulsion instead, which is what makes it creamy.
Use block feta, not pre-crumbled. Pre-crumbled is coated with anti-caking agents that resist water and keep the sauce grainy.
Salt the pasta water lightly, about half the usual amount. Feta sits in brine and the olives are cured, so the standard heavy salting makes this dish too salty.
If it isn't creamy yet, add more pasta water and keep tossing. The change happens suddenly rather than gradually, usually just after you've decided it isn't working.
Save more pasta water than you think you need. If the pasta tightens while plating, a splash of hot water and a quick toss brings it back.
Add grilled chicken, shrimp, or chickpeas at the end to make it a fuller meal. Spinach wilts in nicely with the hot pasta.
Store leftovers up to 3 days. Reheat gently in a skillet with a splash of water; the microwave turns the feta rubbery.