As I’m cooking my way through the familiar tastes of my Italian-alpine childhood, I recalled that as kids we sometimes wanted french fries. Of course, this isn’t an Italian thing. So we were offered a version: potatoes cut like patate fritte, but pan-cooked in olive oil. The end-result doesn’t look quite as neat as french fries. But the taste is lovely. Now I found myself wanting to give this a try, updating it a bit with fresh herbs from the garden. I got started by peeling two large potatoes.
Next the potatoes need to be cut french fries style.
Since this is a grown-up dinner, I’ll also need some other food. I’ll be searing some filets of salmerino, the same fish I recently put on the grill.
And there’ll be zucchine and scallions, all of which looks fresh and lovely here in the mountains.
Now my cut-up potatoes go into a pan with olive oil. The tricky bit is that the potatoes are raw. This is also the nice bit, because it makes for a wonderful taste. But they need a bit of time, and you’ll need to alternate between putting a lid on the pan, so that they cook thoroughly, and removing the lid, so that they brown. Inevitably, some bits will overbrown. But the crustier ones taste lovely, so as long as you’re not after perfect looks, you’re fine.
Next I’m using an extra pan just to fry some herbs in olive oil, sage and fresh oregano.
And now it all goes onto a plate, the fried herbs right on the fish. I hope you’ll want to try these Italian-style, un-fried patate fritte!
