This humble, earthy and delightful dish is one of a family of pastas cooked with another starch – such as pasta with beans, pasta with lentils or pasta with chickpeas. It is traditionally prepared first with a sofrito, in which the potato is cooked with perhaps a little tomato to a sort of stew, in which the pasta is finally braised. That is lovely, but I make an even simpler, more delicate version – of pasta boiled with diced potatoes. The result is beguiling.
Serves 4
yellow or white fleshed potato 400g, peeled and diced into 5mm cubes
dried short pasta tubes 400g (such as ditali, ditaloni, tubetti, mezze maniche, tortiglioni, rigatoni or calamaretti)
excellent extra virgin olive oil 100ml
ground black pepper ½ tsp
herb 1 sprig of rosemary, basil, oregano, fennel fronds or sage, chopped
pecorino romano or parmesan 80g, freshly grated (optional)
