Patate in Tecia

Surely the title of the post will mean very little to most of you, and those of you who know what this is all about will read through anyway!

And after the pubs, we are now starting the new food series. Coming from two Italian Expats in London, it might be worth following…

Patate in Tecia are a traditional recipe from my home town, Trieste, in the Northern-Eartern corner of Italy. They are not to be confused with the Spanish tortillas, nor with the Austrian potatoes wth sweet onion, which my German does not allow me to mention in the original language.

They are, officialy speaking, a side. Usually enjoyed (and the usually is not related to the “enjoy”, that’d be an “always”) with meat, they are quite heavy for a side dish.

The original recipe, for 4 people, is the following:

1 kg of potatoes

1 onion

100 grams of bacon

4 spoons of lard

You boil the potatoes, and then peel them. In the meanwhile, the onion and the bacon are to be lightly fried in a pan (the “tecia” in the name, which is not Italian but Triestin, my dialect) with the lard (I personally use olive oil instead of the lard, and I suggest yo do so). A nice variation sees the bacon being replaced by Sardinian sausage. Then you “squeeze” the potatoes in the pan, in a gross way, you don’t have to mash them. You leave them there till they form a nice brownish crust on one side, then you turn them over and wait for the other side to be ready.

Patate in Tecia, from our Flickr food photoset

As simple as that. They’re a very simple dish that you can easily find in any restaurant in Trieste, but you can also prepare them yourselves at home.

And, don’t they look wonderful?