Italian Words: Patate

Ciao cari!

How’s winter going so far?

Here, we’re alternating between sunny, almost spring-like days and colder, let’s-stay-home-and-enjoy-lethargy ones.

Yesterday, I finally took out of the pantry the vermouth and chocolate tasting box I won last year at my family’s fantasy Masterchef, and I can’t wait for my first try!

But let’s get back to today’s Italian word: “patate,” potatoes.

I’m a huge potato fan. It comforts my earthy nature, soothes my senses, and connects me to the ground. I even enjoy just thinking about it. No wonder potatoes often appear on my comfort food list, especially during the colder months. Usually, they come in the form of “purè,” which differs from mashed potatoes because of the velvety texture created by using a potato ricer and the addition of umami-rich Parmesan and aromatic nutmeg. When I’m feeling fancy, I add truffle flakes or infused oil. Other times, a tablespoon of pesto is all I need to make it a little more gourmet.

Although potatoes were only relatively recently added to Italy’s traditional cuisine (between the 1500s and 1600s), when they were imported by the Spanish, they quickly took root and became a staple in our kitchens, especially in humble ones due to their affordability.

Next to silky purée, in the Italian culinary panorama, you’ll find “patate prezzemolate,” a simple side dish of boiled potatoes seasoned with olive oil, salt, and abundant parsley.

Alongside our Spanish cousins, we share the love for potato frittata, often enriched with onions and the unmissable grated Parmesan.

In the same house in the mountains where my father sent us on moss missions (Napoli’s Simposio), I remember him making “patate al cartoccio,” placing them among the embers of the chimney to slowly cook, gain smoky hues, and delight us with their crusty peels! Actually, those are “patate sotto la cenere.” “Al cartoccio” is when you wrap them in foil.

“Patate al forno,” oven-baked potatoes, with slight regional variations, have long accompanied both roasted chicken and fish. It’s practically impossible to imagine them without the diced potatoes—sometimes previously parboiled—that absorb, elaborate, and reintroduce the flavors. Sometimes I prefer the potatoes to the main ingredients!

And then there’s another of my comfort foods: gnocchi! My personal ranking places gnocchi with pesto at the top, followed by a simple “burro e salvia,” butter and sage. Then comes “al sugo,” with tomato sauce—and lots of grated Parmesan. Finally, “al ragù” closes the game.

As often happens in this food-centric country, many expressions have been coined around potatoes.

A “patata lessa” is an ignavious person—someone with little to no initiative, passive, and with little personality.

To have a “patata bollente,” a boiling potato, on hand is to be facing a problematic situation.

The word "patata" – in the less commonly used singular form – is a slang term that refers to a woman’s intimate parts

Finally, a “sacco di patate,” a potato sack, refers to a clumsy and lazy person.

That's it for this week, cari miei.

Let me know your must-have potato dishes!

Baci,

Claudia

FROM THE BLOG

Napoli's Simposio: A Travel Cookbook from the Heart of Italy

Napoli’s Simposio: Authentic Neapolitan Recipes & Travel Cookbook from Naples, Italy

Italian mashed potatoes recipe: creamy potato puree

Italian mashed potatoes recipe, a creamy potato puree to serve as a side dish or alone, so good it is.

If you stumbled upon this newsletter for the first time...

My name is Claudia. I am a digital artisan, curator of the Simposio travel cookbook series, maker of Gourmet Project, an Italian food, travel, and culture website, traditions seeker and life-in-Italy narrator through this newsletter.

I live in glorious Rome. I love pasta, "melanzane alla parmigiana," hats, suitcases and airports, Christmas, and books.

Through this weekly correspondence, I aim to share what living in Italy truly feels like. Of course, this is my point of view: the neighborhood where I live, the places I go to, the food I eat, and the trips I take. I try to broaden it by recounting traditions, asking the people I meet, and time-traveling through my memories or those of the Italians around me. Hoping this will be entertaining, informative, and, most important of all, authentic!

Enjoy your read!