I have a real problem when it comes to potatoes. When cooking, I set aside the amount I think will be enough for the number of people I am cooking for. And then I freak out. That just doesn’t look like enough! What if there isn’t enough food? What happens if – god forbid – someone wants seconds and there is none?!
And so I always add at least six more potatoes, no matter what I’m cooking and no matter what the dish is. Roasted in the oven, pureed in a soup or just baked.
Which, if you’re following this line of thought correctly always leads to potato leftovers.
My go to recipe for left over roast potatoes is to put them in a frittata. But lately Emma has been on a steamed potato kick, so I’ve been steaming them and then tossing them with chives and a bit of olive oil. Emma somehow thinks this is diet food, and I’m not going to tell her any differently.
While I could turn the inevitable leftovers into a frittata, the other day I needed a quick side dish so turned two cups of left overs into an incredibly decadent and porky salad.
A handful of pancetta cubes, (see, I’ve told you a slab of pancetta in your fridge will always come in handy and should be considered a staple), a red onion and some olive oil and vinegar and that was that. Even Domenico, who doesn’t like cold leftovers (it’s an Italian thing) was fooled into thinking this was anything but.
While you could start from scratch, and steam potatoes specifically for this salad, much easier to over do it the night before. Who wants to be steaming potatoes in the middle of a hot summer day? But eating porky potato salad? Everyone wants to be doing that.
porky potato salad
(serves 4 as a side dish)
2 cups cubed steamed potatoes, room temperature
1/2 cup cubed pancetta
1 small red onion diced
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt & pepper
Chopped parsley or chives
Place the cooked potatoes in a serving bowl.
Heat a small frying pan and add the olive oil and pancetta. When the pancetta is cooked through, and starts to crisp at the edge, add the chopped onion and about a half tsp of salt and some freshly cracked pepper. Cook for one minute, turn off heat and add the vinegar.
Toss potatoes with hot pancetta mixture, adding the rest of the olive oil. Toss with herbs and adjust seasonings. 
Yummm!!! I know some people who will love this dish…I mean the contents, and the dish itself!!!
Wow: with an egg or two, that sounds a lot like breakfast. Yummy!
Pork & Potato… 2 of my favorite things!… well, 2 of many!… I will definitely give it a try! Mainly, I wanted to say I finalllllly got around to ready the last several wks Dining Section of the NYTimes… and THERE U WERE on the first page of the July 31st paper… It was like seeing an old friend in the paper… it was great!! Now I will definitely send you a note when we come over next yr and hopefully on our few days in Rome you can take US to visit some of your special places!!! lol in your spare time… 😀
I hope to meet you too!
Childhood memory of mama’s kitchen! Had this regularly with steak of Saturday nights when I was a girl growing up in the Bronx’s Little Italy and I make it all year long … served warm or at room temp. We all love it and I rarely, if ever, make any other potato salad. This is it for me and my family
That’s so great that this was a family dish. It’s completely new to me.
Elizabeth, I know of what you speak…the how many potatoes are enough? Your “porky potato salad” sounds darned good & I am one of those who always has both pancetta & guanciale on hand because you just never know right? To avoid the too many leftover potatoes in the fridge when I make potato salad, I actually weigh them because I know how much 2 or 4 or 6 will usually eat & I have to say I am pretty spot on with a bit left for seconds or for raiding the fridge in the middle of the night! Thanks for the post…
So, what is the magical potato equation? Do tell! x many potatoes = x many people
You had me at ‘porky’. See, everything is better with bacon and your piece of pancetta had me salivating! 🙂
Ha, me too, always cook wayyy too many spuds–This morning I actually made your recipe for fish filets on top of potatoes, roasted in the oven–I used sliced fingerlings and two big pcs of salmon–so easy and quick, enough so that I could do it before work and take it for lunch today—.thanks for that one!
Glad you liked it!! It’s one of my favorites too.