Pasta and potatoes with provola

Name: Pasta and potatoes with provola
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 85 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: Mixed Pasta 11.5 oz; Yellow potatoes 0.7 lb; Provola cheese buffalo milk 4.4 oz; Celery 1 cup; Carrots 3.5 oz; Onions 0.6 cup; Parmigiano Reggiano PDO cheese 1.75 oz; Garlic 1 clove; Basil to taste; Extra virgin olive oil to taste; Fine salt to taste; Black pepper to taste

Difficulty: Easy
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 55 min
Serving: 4
Cost: Low

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PRESENTATION

Recipe by
Roberto Di Pinto

Pasta and Potatoes with Provola is the dish Neapolitan chef Roberto Di Pinto calls the emotional root of his entire relationship with cooking — a recipe his father made, not one he developed in a restaurant. Di Pinto, who founded Sine in Milan, shared it during a vodcast conversation with psychologist Michele Mezzanotte, describing it as a symbol of what food can hold. Unlike the standard Neapolitan preparation, this version skips the lardo and pancetta entirely, letting simple, quality ingredients carry the weight on their own.

Texture is the whole point, and there is a Neapolitan word for it: azzeccata — thick, starchy, and clingy in the best way. Pasta mista is what gets you there. The mix of shapes releases starch gradually as it cooks with the potatoes, building a mantecatura that no single pasta cut replicates as well. Provola folds into that dense base at the end, pulling everything together into something genuinely satisfying without a drop of meat to help it along.

How to prepare Pasta and potatoes with provola

To prepare the pasta and potatoes with provola, first clean and finely dice (brunoise) the celery 1, the carrots 2 and the onion 3.

Peel the potatoes and cut most of them into cubes 4; thinly slice the remaining potatoes 5. Also chop one clove of garlic 6.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large saucepan 7, then add the onion, carrots and celery 8 and let them soften gently for about 10 minutes, stirring often 9.

Add both the cubed potatoes 10 and the thinly sliced ones 11, then season with salt 12.

Also season with pepper 13 and the chopped garlic 14. Cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Then begin adding a little hot water at a time 15 and continue cooking for about 25 minutes, until the potatoes are soft and begin to fall apart, creating a creamy consistency.