This Pasta and Potatoes recipe, Pasta and Patate, is the Neapolitan way of making a delicious meal using everything you have in your fridge or pantry. Besides pasta, potatoes, and stock, you can add any other vegetable, cheese, or meat you want to use up. It is a healthy, easy, and quick weekday meal you can make when you don't have a plan for dinner. Everything is cooked together in one pot in less than 30 minutes.
In Italy, we do not like to throw away food, so we are used to making a meal out of anything we have at home.
This is one of the Cucina Povera recipes where anything can be used.
Don't you hate it when pasta left in the box is not enough to make a meal, and you don't know what to do with it?
This is when you can use them all, even if they are different sizes and cooking times.
The pasta and the potatoes are cooked together, a technique similar to risotto called pasta risottata.
If you thought pasta and potatoes could not go together because they are both starches, think again.
The potatoes absorb the flavor of all the other ingredients, and the starch creates a smooth thick creamy sauce. A soup you can eat with your fork!
This recipe is from my Neapolitan friend: Eliana De Matteis, and you can follow her on Facebook.
For more pasta recipes with vegetables, you can find cavatelli and broccoli, zucchini recipe pasta and ricotta, and if you have leftover pasta, you can make fried pasta.
You can also check potato gnocchi made from scratch in the web story: 9 Gnocchi Recipes Made From Scratch
Ingredients
Some ingredients are the base for this recipe, while others are optional and replaceable.
These are the ingredients I used:
Base ingredients:
- Pasta corta: it is best to use short (corta) pasta, not pastina. The pasta has to be the same size as the potato chunks so they make a balanced bite. In this recipe, I use orecchiette. Check the cooking time required for each pasta as it determines when the pasta will be added to cook together with the potatoes
- Medium potatoes
- Carrots, celery and onion
- Homemade stock: you can use vegetable, chicken, or beef stock. The stock will be added gradually like in a risotto
- Salt and pepper
Optional and/or interchangeable ingredients:
- White wine
- Bacon; you can also use salami, leftover meat, chicken
- Scamorza, mozzarella, provola or any other cheese you have in your fridge
- Freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino
- Chili peppers, if you like it spicy
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Making this one-pot recipe is easy, and we use a cooking technique called "pasta risottata". The pasta is cooked like risotto.
Preparing the base with the potatoes
Pour some olive oil into a large pasta pot
Add diced carrot, celery and onion and stir fry to make a soffritto
Add the potatoes cut into small chunks
Stir and add some white wine
Once the wine has evaporated, add some stock
The amount of stock you add should cover the base of the pan, not all the ingredients.
Cover and let it simmer for 5 minutes
Add salt
Note: the cooking time of this phase depends on the pasta cooking time. The potatoes should cook within 20 minutes, while the pasta I am using requires 12 minutes. I, therefore, need to cook the potatoes 8 minutes before I add the pasta, so both pasta and potatoes are perfectly cooked at the same time
Adding bacon and spices
Add the bacon
and the hot chili peppers, if you like them spicy
Stir and add more stock if needed. Simmer for two more minutes
Add the pasta
Cooking with the pasta
Add more stock to ALMOST cover the pasta, do not submerge it
Let it simmer covered for 13 minutes, stirring and adding more stock regularly
Regularly add more stock
and stir
Always simmer covered
Taste the pasta and the potatoes
Adding the cheese
Add the cheese
Stir until the cheese is melted
How to serve it
Once the pasta with potatoes is ready, serve it immediately while piping hot.
Add some freshly grated Parmesan and black pepper.
Storage
It is best to eat this dish on the same day.
The next day the pasta will get too soggy as it will absorb all the juices.
In addition, cooked potatoes change the texture and taste the next day and will not be as soft and fluffy.
However, if you cannot finish it and have leftovers, do not throw them away!
You can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container; it is still safe to eat.
Top tip
- The pasta and the potatoes are cooked together in this recipe, a technique similar to risotto called pasta risottata.
- Some ingredients are the base for this recipe, while others are optional and replaceable.
- You can use up ingredients you have in your fridge and pantry
- You can also use mismatched pasta
- Check the cooking time required for each pasta as it determines when the pasta will be added to cook together with the potatoes
- The potatoes should cook within 20 minutes, while the pasta I am using requires 12 minutes. I, therefore, need to cook the potatoes 8 minutes before I add the pasta, so both pasta and potatoes are perfectly cooked at the same time
- It is best to eat this dish on the same day. The next day the pasta will get too soggy as it will absorb all the juices. However, if you cannot finish it and have leftovers, do not throw them away! You can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container; it is still safe to eat.
If you are making any of this pasta and potatoes, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, or sign up to my newsletter.
📋Pasta and potatoes
Ingredients
Base ingredients
- 10 oz pasta corta
- 5 medium potatoes
- 2 carrots
- 2 stalk of celery
- 1 onion
- 6 cups homemade stock salted
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Optional and substitutable
- ½ cup white wine
- 5 oz bacon you can also use salami, leftover meat, chicken
- 5 oz scamorza or mozzarella use any cheese you want to use up
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino
- 2 Hot chili peppers if you like it spicy
Instructions
Preparing the base with the potatoes
- Pour some olive oil into a large pasta pot3 tablespoon olive oil
- Add diced carrot, celery and onion and stir fry to make a soffritto2 carrots, 2 stalk of celery, 1 onion
- Add the potatoes cut into small chunks5 medium potatoes
- Stir and add some white wine½ cup white wine
- Once the wine has evaporated, add some stock6 cups homemade stock
- The amount of stock you add should cover the base of the pan, not all the ingredients.
- Cover and let it simmer for 5 minutes
- Add salt1 teaspoon salt
Adding bacon and spices
- Add the bacon5 oz bacon
- and the hot chili peppers, if you like them spicy2 Hot chili peppers
- Stir and add more stock if needed. Simmer for two more minutes
Adding the pasta
- Add the pasta10 oz pasta corta
- Add more stock to ALMOST cover the pasta, do not submerge it6 cups homemade stock
- Let it simmer covered for 13 minutes, stirring and adding more stock regularly
- Regularly add more stock and stir6 cups homemade stock
- Always simmer covered
- Taste the pasta and the potatoes
Adding the cheese
- Add the cheese5 oz scamorza or mozzarella
- Stir until the cheese is melted
Serve
- Serve it immediately while piping hot with some freshly grated Parmesan½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
Video
Notes
- The pasta and the potatoes are cooked together in this recipe, a technique similar to risotto called pasta risottata.
- Some ingredients are the base for this recipe, while others are optional and replaceable.
- You can use up ingredients you have in your fridge and pantry
- You can also use mismatched pasta
- Check the cooking time required for each pasta as it determines when the pasta will be added to cook together with the potatoes
- The potatoes should cook within 20 minutes, while the pasta I am using requires 12 minutes. I, therefore, need to cook the potatoes 8 minutes before I add the pasta, so both pasta and potatoes are perfectly cooked at the same time
- It is best to eat this dish on the same day. The next day the pasta will get too soggy as it will absorb all the juices. However, if you cannot finish it and have leftovers, do not throw them away!You can store it in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container; it is still safe to eat.
Nutrition
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