Tomato-Feta Bake

Author Notes

I'm a tomato hoarder.

I don't mean to be, but every summer when I go to the farmer's market, I have this knack for forgetting that I already have tomatoes at home, and then after a week or so, I find myself staring down a mountain of at-their-peak tomatoes. And while I can shovel down fresh tomatoes one after the other with hardly a breath in between, there comes a point where I just have too many, and I have to *do* something with them.

This dish is one of my favorite ways to cook up tomatoes. It's assembled in about 30 seconds; the oven does the rest. I love the floral quality of oregano here, but you can use thyme or rosemary or whatever other herbs you'd like. Use your favorite feta; I prefer sheep's milk, which is nice and tangy, but I've used cow feta as well. In any case, the cheese should be salty enough for you not to need additional salt.

When the dish is ready, I dig into it using crusty pieces of bread to scoop up pieces of cheese and tomato, using the soft insides to sop up the juice. I say that this dish can feed 4 as an appetizer, but I can clear most of it by myself. It must be the hoarder in me. —vvvanessa