This is Southern Italian food at its finest—nourishing, flavorful, and made with only a few affordable ingredients. If your pasta shapes vary a lot in width, boil the thicker pieces a few minutes longer than the thinner ones, so they become al dente at about the same time.
Featured in “Italy’s Little-Known Trick for Using Up Leftover Bits of Pasta,” by Katie Parla.
Yield: 6
Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
- 1 medium celery stalk, finely chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- ½ tsp. fine sea salt, divided, plus more as needed
- ¼ cup tomato sauce, preferably homemade
- 5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (1½ lb.), peeled and cut into ½-in. cubes
- 6–7 cups vegetable broth, or water, warmed, divided
- 1 lb. dried pasta mista corta (or any mix of dried pastas), or ditali
- 8 oz. young or sharp provolone cheese, coarsely grated (2 cups)
Instructions
- To a large pot, add the oil, garlic, carrot, celery, onion, and ¼ teaspoon of the salt. Turn the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft but not browned, about 20 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce, potatoes, and remaining salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes begin to soften, about 20 minutes.
- Pour in 5 cups of the stock, turn the heat to medium, and cover. Simmer until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes.
- Uncover the pot, turn the heat to high, and add the pasta and enough of the remaining broth to cover by 1 inch. Cook—adding more broth ¼ cup at a time as needed to keep the pasta submerged—until al dente, 8–12 minutes. The texture should be like thick, chunky soup.
- Remove from the heat, stir in the provolone, and serve.
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