A really simple recipe: quick, cheap and so addictive. A plant-based dish with few ingredients and so much flavor. Where I live, they’re upgraded oven fries. In Sicily, they’re “patate al forno”: potatoes roasted with whatever’s in the cupboard, like olives, capers, oregano and a couple of tomatoes. That’s it.
Poor man’s cooking
Sicilian cooking knows how to do a lot with very little. It’s thrifty, family-style food born of making do, and that’s exactly what makes it so good. The olives-capers-oregano trio turns up all over the island. Here, it turns plain potatoes into a dish that fills the house with its smell and that everyone asks for again. No rare ingredients. No tricky techniques.
The secret: a single layer
The only trap is an overcrowded tray. If the vegetables pile up, they steam instead of roasting. Spread everything in a single layer on a large tray, even if it means using two. Turn halfway through. That’s what gives you wedges that are golden outside and meltingly soft inside.
The tomatoes make the sauce
Two big tomatoes cut into large chunks, and that’s it. As they cook, they collapse and mix with the olive oil, capers and oregano: a little sauce forms by itself on the tray and coats the potatoes. Nothing more to do.
The recipe
Patate al forno, Sicilian-style oven fries
Ingredients
- 5-6 potatoes in large wedges
- 2 Crimean tomatoes or large tomatoes, in big chunks
- 2 large red onions roughly chopped
- 1 garlic clove chopped
- 100 g kalamata or black olives
- 2 tbsp drained capers
- 1 tsp oregano
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- chili flakes optional
- salt and pepper
Prep
- Oven to 200°C (390°F). Cut the potatoes into large wedges, the tomatoes into big chunks, the onions roughly. Chop the garlic.
- Mix everything in a large bowl with the olives, capers, oregano, chili if you like it, the oil, salt and pepper.
- Spread on a large tray lined with baking paper, in a single layer.
- Bake for a good half hour (30-35 min), turning halfway through, until golden and tender.
- Serve hot or warm, with a green salad.
Lab notes
- A single layer on the tray, without overcrowding: that’s what makes them brown instead of steam.
- Tomatoes in big chunks melt down and make the sauce on their own.
- Leftovers reheated in a pan the next day are seriously good.
A dish that only needs a green salad, and whose leftovers, reheated in a pan the next day, might be even better. If you try it, tell me how you served it. You’ll find me on Instagram: @le_labo_vegan_de_fred.
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