Pasta with potatoes! A typical recipe from Roman cuisine, very economical, easy, loved by children, and highly recommended for cold days. When I arrived in Rome, one of the things that surprised me the most, gastronomically speaking, was seeing pizzas topped with potatoes. I don’t mean aberrations like hot dog pizza with frozen french fries, but the well-known pizza with potatoes, sliced super thin and rosemary, for example, which is sold in any Roman pizza al taglio shop. Instinctively, my body told me no. Wrong. I don’t know if it was because carbohydrates + carbohydrates seemed like “bread with bread, a fool’s meal” or who knows what. I think something similar happened to me with today’s recipe. Until I stopped being silly, tried one thing and another, and it turned out they were quite refined.
Such a combination is perfectly understood in a cuisine with such humble origins as the Roman one and the need to fill the belly with low-cost ingredients. Even so, many dishes born in a similar way have not stood the test of time and nowadays, in a country where going hungry is less common, almost no one remembers them, which is not the case with pizza with potatoes and rosemary and its variants, and the dish I present to you today. The reason why they survive is obvious, right? They are very delicious!
The original pasta with potatoes, even more substantial, was cooked with lard and Guanciale. I have made it with oil and bacon, so as not to overdo it, and because sometimes it is not so easy to find lard, and I won’t even mention guanciale (cured pork jowl). Instead, I have added carrot and celery to the sauté, because there are those who do it and I think it gives it a bit more charm and color. Likewise, you can substitute vegetable broth for water. You can also add a little tomato, but the original doesn’t have it and I also like it better without. The most used pasta for this dish is ditaloni. I have made it with a mix of pasta that is already sold in packages, but it can be prepared by using up leftover pasta. Just keep in mind that they should have the same cooking time, or part of the pasta will be raw or overcooked. Finally, depending on what you feel like, you can cook the dish more or less soupy, adding more or less water when you add the potatoes to boil inside the sauté. With the quantities I have given you, it has more the consistency of a stew than a soup. Experiment according to your preferences!
Enjoy your meal!
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The card
- 300g pasta (ditaloni, mixed pasta)
- 550g potatoes (weight without skin)
- 70g bacon cut into strips
- 50g onion
- 50g celery
- 50g carrot
- 1 bay leaf
- 50g Pecorino Romano or dry sheep's milk cheese with a spicy kick
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into medium-sized cubes.
- Cut the celery, onion, and carrot very small.
- Fry the bacon in a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients that will be used.
- When it starts to brown, add the onion, carrot, and celery.
- When they are sautéed, add the potatoes, stir, and add water until they are just covered.
- Add salt to taste and a bay leaf.
- Remove the foam from the broth.
- When they are almost cooked, add the pasta.
- Stir occasionally so it doesn't stick and add boiling water if it is getting extremely dry and the pasta is not yet al dente.
- Serve with a little grated pecorino and black pepper on top.