Today’s recipe is not my own. It’s actually my mother’s. It is one of her favourite pasta sauces and she made it for all of us when visiting from Italy. Usually, as a rule of thumb, Italians do not eat other carbs together with pasta, but this is a delicious exception. I often say that Italians do not double up their carbs in the same dish and especially do not eat pasta with bread and I have had a few people ask me why and many non Italians even telling me that it is not true nor possible. I guess foreigners are so used to have their pasta served with bread at not so original “Italian” restaurants, that they think that’s the norm. So, I will stand my ground once more… Italians do NOT eat pasta together with bread. The only exception is the so called “scarpetta”, which means soaking up the remaining sauce (and not pasta) with a piece of bread at the end of the meal. But back to today’s recipe. I was very surprised by how good this sauce was, especially since it was so quick to put together. The potatoes become soft and almost creamy and the little tomato purée in it gives the final dish a very nice colour. Doesn’t it look yummy? Buon appetito and grazie mamma!
Linguine with Potatoes
The recipe for a quick and easy, yet delicious pasta: Linguine with Potatoes!
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 6 medium potatoes chopped into 2.5 cm - 1 inch pieces
- 1 tbsp parsley chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Pecorino Romano finely grated to serve
Instructions
-
Put the chopped onion in a saucepan with the extra virgin olive oil and heat it on a slow fire. Cook for 1 minute, until the onion becomes transucent.
-
Add the chopped potatoes and sauté them for a couple of minutes.
-
Add the tomato purée and 2 tbsp of water, mix and cook, covered until the potatoes are soft. Stir frequently while cooking and add water little by little as required.
-
-
Cook the linguine following the steps on How to cook pasta “al dente” in the Techniques page of this site.
-
Add 4 tablespoons of the water in which you are cooking the pasta, into the pot with the potato sauce if the liquid has dried up (potatoes absorb a lot of liquid and you need to keep the sauce moist!).
-
Drain the linguine and serve immediately with the potato sauce and grated Pecorino Romano on the top.
🙂 the comment about pasta and bread made me smile. Yes, Manu – I am Italian and I 100% agree with you. I would never start a scarpetta before finishing every last bit of pasta left in the sauce!
But I do think your dish is a perfectly valid exception, and it’s not the only exception that I know. For instance pesto is sometimes accompanied by potatoes and green beans, and of course pizzoccheri is made with cabbage and potatoes. Your dish looks amazing, btw – I am sure my wife and I will love it (she especially likes potatoes, in every shape and form).
I have never heard of a pasta with potatoes. Is this an authentic Italian recipe?
We are big potato eaters so I am pretty sure this is going to be a hit.
We both enjoy pasta with potatoes and your Mother’s recipe looks absolutely delicious! The Sauvignon Blanc is a lovely choice 🙂
Cheers,
J+C
Pasta alla Genovese is my favourite pasta, and it is made with potatoes and green beans and lots of pesto.
That is exactly what I was thinking: I would never mix potatoes and pasta (except in pizzoccheri, buy this a whole meal in a dish really)! But I know you always have great recipes so I trust you on this one and will try them as soon as I start eating carbs and potatoes again ;o)
Love it! My mother used to make “pasta patate” all the time–it was a recipe from my Swiss-Italian grandfather. It’s very similar to your dish (sans tomato), and one of my favorite treats!