PANE COTTO CON PATATE DI ADRIANA

ADRIANA’S COOKED BREAD AND POTATOES WITH ROCKET AND PANCETTA

This old rural recipe from Puglia is a typical cucina povera dish made using up stale bread and adding potatoes to make it go further. It’s hearty and you can add whatever other ingredients you have to hand, like tomatoes, greens, onions, pancetta, etc, which is exactly what people did back then. Bacon is a perfectly good economical replacement to pancetta, if you prefer. This is my sister Adriana’s version, which she used to cook quite often when she lived in Puglia.

SERVES 4

★ 500g potatoes

★ 1.2 litres water

★ 2 handfuls of rocket

★ 200g stale rustic bread, cut into thick chunks

★ 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

★ 120g pancetta or bacon, finely chopped

★ 2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed and left whole

★ ½ red chilli, finely sliced (optional)

★ sea salt

★ Peel the potatoes and cut into thick chunks, then place in a saucepan with the water and a little salt. Bring to the boil and cook until nearly tender, 10-15 minutes. Add the rocket and cook for a further 2 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through.

★ Remove from the heat, add the bread chunks, cover with a lid to keep warm and leave to soak for about 5 minutes.

★ In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the pancetta or bacon, garlic and chilli (if using) and sweat over a medium heat until the pancetta or bacon is cooked, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat then discard the garlic.

★ Combine the pancetta or bacon with the potato mixture, check for seasoning and, if necessary, add a little salt, then serve immediately.