Why did I make an effort to going to Naples just to walk around?

No, I actually went to Naples to eat.

If you know me, and by know I mean after talking to me for 10-15 minutes, you’ll know that I have a slight obsession with food.



Food is, in my opinion, the most important thing in life. You can survive without clothes or medicine, but food? I think it’s the only need we all have in common; the need to eat, even when you don’t want to, you need food to survive. Which is why food is like a medium that connects people around the world together, regardless of one’s religion, culture or nationality.

Most importantly, sharing a meal with other people just add another dimension of the eating experience, happiness grows when shared after all.

My passion for food had brought me to meet some of the most incredible people , especially in Italy, the country where eating is such an important thing. Staying in Maria’s flat through Couchsurfing also happened because we shared our love for food.

After showing her how to cook rice and curry in a Thai way (as close as possible of course), Maria showed me how to make a typical pasta dish from Naples, or pasta con patate e provola.

Yes, it’s pasta with potato and cheese, carb on carb, welcome to Italy.



The further South you go in Italy, the poorer people are (generally), and it’s been like this for a long time. That shapes the cuisine of the South as well. Traditional food from the South are peasant dishes using a lot of grains, beans and vegetable. Even the common shape of pasta here is called pasta mista, or broken pieces of pasta with unidentified shapes. It’s quite common to have pasta with chickpeas, beans, lentils, potatoes or even cauliflower here. These people are just very good at turning cheap ingredients in the kitchen into something delicious.



This pasta con patate is like making pumpkin soup or stir fry rice, everyone makes it differently and there’s no exact recipe for it. Basically just throw what you have in the fridge in there and create something out of it. As long as you have pasta, potato and cheese it’ll turn out just fine.

But the way you cook these peasant pasta dishes is quite unique, you don’t cook the pasta and sauce separately. Rather, you cook the pasta in the sauce that you cook vegetables in, almost like making soup. (but of course it’s not a soup so don’t overcook!) This way, the pasta will be thicker and creamier than usual, as all of the starch from pasta goes straight into the sauce.



Pasta con patate e provola

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
1 carrot
2-3 small stalks of celery
2 big old potatoes
a splash of white wine
1 litre vegetable broth
350 g. pasta mista
150 g. smoke provola cheese
grated parmesan, to taste


Sauté minced garlic, onion, carrot and celery in olive oil until browned and aromatic.

Add white wine, cubed potatoes and half of the broth , bring to boil, cover and let the potatoes cook until soft and mushy. Keep an eye on the pan and add more soup if necessary.

Once the potato is cooked, add more broth and pasta, cook until al dente, add cheese and cover for 2-3 minutes before serving.

Buon appetito!