Fennel, Tomato and Feta Pasta

It's not seasonal I know, but I had these good cherry tomatoes and fennel from a shoot and wanted to put them to good use......

The cherry tomatoes are little plum Italian one's (on the vine) and much nicer than those pretty tasteless Dutch (I'm guessing) tomatoes you'll get in the supermarket at the moment.

I just pulled them off the vine into a roasting tin. Chopped up the fennel, cutting out any tough core and tossed it all together with good olive oil, sea salt and freshly milled pepper.

I covered it with foil and bunged it in a hot oven (200 C) for about an hour. In this time the tomatoes intensify and the fennel pieces become tender juicy nuggets. I Just ate a bowl of this with some feta crumbled in. Yep It was good.

I've thought since that a teaspoon of fennel seeds, (Lightly crushed with a rolling pin or in a pestle and mortar.) mixed in with the tomatoes and fennel before you cook them would step up the aniseed flavour.

The next day.

I don't really eat much pasta these days but I had this posh pasta given to me. It has a very delicate texture when cooked. It doesn't take long either. Probably about 8 minutes.

There wasn't much left of the fennel bits as they were so good! But see all those lovely juices? That stirred into the hot pasta with some more feta crumbled in......Good again....Wee note. Keep a few tablespoons of the pasta water as this really does help the sauce/juices cling to the pasta.