Before marrying your grandfather and going on our honeymoon in the South of Italy, in the Basilicata region, to visit my in-laws, Grandma told me, I had never heard of pasta and… pasta and potatoes, pasta and fava beans, pasta and beans… We used to eat pasta, soup or broth, but we had never had pasta cooked that way!
This is what my grandmother told me when I asked her where she learnt to cook pasta e patate, pasta cooked with potatoes, one of the most comfortable dishes you can think of on a cold winter day.
Pasta e patate is a traditional dish, belonging to the inventive food tradition of Southern Italy.
My grandma Marcella learnt to cook pasta with potatoes from my Aunt Valeria, my granddad’s sister, and from that day many many years ago she developed her own recipe, revised according to our ingredients, to her taste and cooking style.
For example, instead of caciocavallo, a hard and sharp flavoured pear-shaped cheese from the South of Italy, we use grated Parmigiano Reggiano and also a piece of its leftover crust, cut into cubes. Once you boil it for a while, it becomes soft and chewy, giving also an intense flavour to the stock.
From an unknown recipe, it became the rewarding and cosy dish of cold days. On these snowy days, Grandma comes often to our house at lunchtime with a wooden tray with all the ingredients, already measured and divided into small bowls, and while we set the table she cooks us pasta with potatoes in a small pot on low flame: this is her secret in the kitchen, the lowest flame and a lot of patience.
As befits the traditional Italian peasant cooking, few ingredients are used in an inventive way to produce a rich taste and a creamy texture.
A hint of freshly ground black pepper or a pinch of crushed red hot chilly pepper will add the right amount of heat to warm you up, from inside out.
RECIPE – PASTA E PATATE, PASTA WITH POTATOES
[First Posted February 2012. Updated January 2024]
Pasta and potatoes are a typical cucina povera association. These two affordable ingredients were paired for the first time in Naples around the XVII century to give birth to pasta e patate, a recipe loved by peasants who could fill their bellies with a hearty, energetic dish, perfect for nourishing and satiating body and soul after heavy working days.
Now pasta e patate is spread all over Italy, where different versions coexist. It is highly recommended to hold the bowl of pasta e patate in your hands on the coldest days and to inhale the cosy scent with closed eyes before you eat it: a stream of family memories will pass through your eyes. This is the power of simple, honest food.
Pasta e patate, Pasta with Potatoes
As befits the traditional Italian peasant cooking, with pasta and potatoes few ingredients are used in an inventive way to produce a rich taste and a creamy texture.
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Pour the olive oil into a medium pot over low heat. Add the finely minced onion, a pinch of chili pepper and a generous pinch of salt, then cook until soft, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.
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Add the tomato paste, stir, and cook until caramelized, about one minute. It will give a pinkish and inviting colour to your pasta and potatoes.
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Add the diced potatoes, stir, and cook on low heat for about five minutes, taking care not to brown the potatoes.
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Pour in 1⅔ cups/400 ml hot water (it should be enough to cover the potatoes), add the Parmigiano-Reggiano rind, and cook on a medium flame for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until you can easily mash the potatoes with a wooden spoon against the edges of the pot.
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Pour in the remaining hot water, and the pasta, and stir thoroughly. Simmer until the pasta is al dente, about 10 minutes.
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When the pasta is cooked through, and the soup is thick, remove the pot from the heat, add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano, and stir energetically. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt.
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Ladle the soup into warmed bowls, drizzle each serving with some olive oil, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper, and serve. The Parmigiano-Reggiano rind can be cut into smaller pieces and added to the bowls.
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Any leftover soup can be refrigerated for up to two days. Reheat gently over low heat, adding a bit of water as necessary to thin.
You can find a similar version for pasta e patate in our latest cookbook, Cucina Povera.
