A Pie made of Potato
I recently saw a video for this on the Pasta Grannies instagram, it had me intrigued from the off, but also, those Pasta Grannies are the best thing on the internet. And of course, there are many, many versions of pies made with potato from lots of different places in the world, I just liked the sound of this one. I have no idea of their recipe, I’ve just come up with these quantities today. Also adding some ricotta, which I doubt they do in Puglia, but feel free to correct me if I am wrong about this, I’ve just got a tub in the fridge that will go beyond best before date that needs using up. It works beautifully in the pie filling.
The closest thing I’ve come to making anything like this potato mix, is the way I make gnocchi with finely mashed potato, an egg and just enough 00 flour to bind so you can work the potato. 00 flour is a very fine grade flour, and it’s best to use for this recipe, but regular plain flour will work. Too much flour and you’ll have gluey mashed potato, the flour gives the mash just enough body to work like it does in the reel. You’ll see in the reel on instagram I scatter over with the flour, taking care not to overwork the mashed potato mixture. Potatoes vary hugely, and depending on their water content, you’ll have to adjust with flour. Older potatoes, I find, make better fluffier mashed potato.
You could fill this pie with just about anything, I’ve made a tomato sauce with lots of onions and garlic, dried oregano and olive oil. I might make a greens version next time.
White breadcrumbs would be better, but I had none, so there we have it.
This is great to eat warm out of the oven. or left to sit and settle for an hour to eat at room temperature with a great big green salad dressed sharply with red wine vinegar, salt and olive oil.
Off to Cornwall with my kids for a week. Back soon.
And in other news, 92 year old Sue Bennison is the mum of the founder of Pasta Grannies on YouTube, instagram and two cookbooks, Sue will be my 7th guest on 5 O’ Clock Apron Podcast. Sue’s episode is out 30th July, Sue teaching me her very best sponge cake recipe!
INGREDIENTS
Feeds 4 / 5
1 kg large floury potatoes
1 large egg
Approx 2 handfuls of 00 pasta flour, about 80g in total
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 large onions, finely sliced
3 garlic, finely sliced
1 tin of polpa tomatoes, or use fresh chopped
15 black olives, roughly chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tub of ricotta
Olive oil, quite a bit!
Parmesan, freshly grated, around 60g
Handful of fresh breadcrumbs
METHOD
Boil the potatoes in well salt water until cooked through. Drain.
Make the tomato sauce. In a saucepan over a moderate heat, add 3 tbsp olive oil, add the onions and big pinch of salt and cook for around 10 mins. Add the garlic and oregano and cook for 2 mins more. Add the tomatoes and cook for around 15 mins until thickened and rich tasting. Add plenty of black pepper and slosh more olive oil when it tastes good. Remove from the heat.
Mash the potatoes whilst still warm, I used a fine meshed sieve and a dough scraper, you could mash, no lumps is best here. Add the egg, flour and 1/2 the parmesan and briefly mix to combine, I used my hands, then a dough scraper, trying not to overwork the potatoes or add too much flour, just enough - see my reel for consistency of the potatoes.
Oil a baking dish, mine measures 29cm round. Use approximately 1/2 the potato mix and flatten out on the base of the dish. See reel. Add the tomato sauce, grate over with the remaining parmesan cheese and dot over with the chopped olives and the ricotta. Use the remaining potato to top your ‘pie’ as best you can to cover the surface. Use a fork to scrape over, if you like.
Scatter over with the breadcrumbs and drizzle over with more olive oil
Bake in hot oven at 180C for round 40 mins, until the potato topping is slightly puffed and risen and the breadcrumbs are golden and crunchy on top. Remove from the oven and rest for at least 5 mins before serving.