I really like the tiella, the iconic baked casserole dish of the Puglia region of Italy. You can assemble a tiella at your leisure, then pop them in the oven and serve them when you’re ready to eat. It’s cooking at its most relaxing.
The tiella is named after the terracotta cooking vessel in which it is cooked. The most famous is often simply called tiella pugliese, is a rich mixture of rice, potatoes, mussels, tomatoes and more. It’s filling enough to serve as a one dish meal.
This simpler but no less delicious tiella di patate, cipolle e pomodoro, or potato, onions and tomato casserole, makes a great side dish for grilled meats or fish. The dish is at its best when you can harvest tomatoes and fresh oregano from your own garden, but you can enjoy it any time of year. Cheap, filling and really tasty, the dish practically defines la cucina povera.
Ingredients
Serves 4-5 as a side dish
- 250g (1/2 lb) potatoes, peeled and sliced
- 250g (1/2 lb) onion, sliced
- 250g (1/2 lb) tomatoes, de-seeded and sliced
- A few sprigs fresh oregano or dried oregano
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper
- Breadcrumbs, q.b.
- Olive oil
Directions
Grease a baking dish, preferably made from terra-cotta, with a bit of olive oil.
Place a layer of sliced onion in the bottom of the dish and drizzle with olive oil. Place a layer of potato on top of the onions, then a layer of tomatoes. Sprinkle that with garlic, oregano leaves, salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Repeat until you use up all the ingredients—but for the top layer, mix potatoes and tomatoes in a decorative pattern.
Drizzle a bit of water down the sides of the dish, then sprinkle the top layer with breadcrumbs and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake in a moderate oven (180C/350F) on convection heat for about 45-60 minutes, until the ingredients are cooked, most of the liquid evaporated and the top nicely browned.
Let your tiella cool for about 10-15 minutes before serving.
Notes
There are few ways to go wrong with this no fuss dish. But, like so many simple dishes, the quality of your ingredients is critical to the success of your tiella, in particular the tomatoes. This is not a dish you should attempt with run of the mill supermarket tomatoes, which lack taste and tend to be very watery. The result will surely be disappointing. Use farmer market tomatoes in season or, out of season, go for good quality hydroponics.
Besides the tomatoes, look for yellow fleshed potatoes like Yukon Golds. Olive oil from Puglia would, of course be ideal. But if you can’t find it easily, look for olive oil of the dark green, fruity variety with intense flavor.
Cooking tips
By the end of cooking any cooking liquid should be almost (but not quite) entirely evaporated. (NB: Some tomatoes can exude a lot of liquid.) Continue cooking if need be. If on the other hand, things are drying out well ahead of time, add some additional water. The top should be nicely browned. And don’t worry if a few edges here and there are slightly charred—some people say that’s the best part! If the top is not browning as it should, torque up the heat to 200C/400F for a few minutes at the end.
And don’t neglect to rest your tiella before serving. Besides cooling the dish off a bit and avoiding burning your tongue, the rest also allows the oil and any remaining juices to soak into the potatoes, rendering them even more unctuous and delicious.
If you’re not feeling particularly fancy, you can also make a more down home version of this tiella by mixing all the ingredients (other than the breadcrumbs) in a mixing bowl and pouring them into the baking dish, flattening the ingredients out to form a more or less even top. Drizzle with olive oil and proceed as directed. It’ll be every bit as good, just a little less pretty.
Variations
Once you have the basic recipe down, you can vary the tiella to make all sorts of vegetable casseroles. I’ve seen recipes that add peppers to the mix, some include zucchini and even fried eggplant. Not all include garlic or oregano, while others call for some grated pecorino cheese. And for the fall and winter, try this potato and mushroom casserole.
Tiella di patate, cipolle e pomodori
Ingredients
- 250g 1/2 lb potatoes peeled and sliced
- 250g 1/2 lb onion sliced
- 250g 1/2 lb tomatoes de-seeded and sliced
- A few sprigs fresh oregano or dried oregano
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced
- Salt and pepper
- Breadcrumbs q.b.
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Grease a baking dish, preferably made from terra-cotta, with a bit of olive oil.
- Place a layer of sliced onion in the bottom of the dish and drizzle with olive oil. Place a layer of potato on top of the onions, then a layer of tomatoes. Sprinkle that with garlic, oregano leaves, salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Repeat until you use up all the ingredients—but for the top layer, mix potatoes and tomatoes in a decorative pattern.
- Drizzle a bit of water down the sides of the dish, then sprinkle the top layer with breadcrumbs and drizzle with olive oil.
- Bake in a moderate oven (180C/350F) on convection heat for about 45-60 minutes, until the ingredients are cooked and the top nicely browned.
- Let cool for about 10-15 minutes before serving.
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19 Comments on “Tiella di patate, cipolle e pomodori (Potato, Onion and Tomato Casserole)”
Hi Frank, I’m glad you’re back! I’m sure you had a wonderful time in Italy, you lucky guy! I make these exact ingredients only fried and then I add whisked eggs for a delicious frittata! I will definitely make your version too, as it looks so delicious baked. Grazie mille!
Thanks so much, Lydia! Yes indeed, I also make a frittata with the same ingredients. Tasty combination!
Hi: Could you possibly add roasted plum or roma tomatoes instead or do you need the extra liquid from the uncooked tomatoes?
Also, my friend used to make a similar tiella. It included all of the above ingredients plus rice.
No reason why you couldn’t use roasted tomatoes if you like the taste. Dfter all you’re adding liquid to the dish anyway. And as for the rice, there is another closely related dish called tiella pugliese that uses rice and mussels on the half shell, so your friend’s version is very much in the same spirit.
Thank you for this recipe. I try so hard to find recipes that work on the basis of simple, healthy and traditional ingredients. This is a good one!
I have been making a variation of this dish for years. For those who are less accomplished or simply want to save time I have omitted the garlic and herbs and just used black pepper. Still yummy and less work. Unless you are a purist you can also save time by partially pre cooking potatoes on stove top or in the microwave which is a plus in warm weather when one does not want to use the oven for more tie than necessary. I have not done so however I know flavour and texture can be altered by using other than old aged cheddar cheese or a mixture of your favourites
I’ve been looking for a recipe such as this for years! It sounds delicious and had it many years ago at a simple dinner with grilled Beef, salad with fruity olive oil and great memories.
That’s awesome, Bonnie. Hope you like it.
I bought an almost identical dish in Spain last summer, and know what I will be using it for very soon…
It does come in handy!
I will try to make this the next time we cook in our wood-fired oven: it looks perfect for that. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Please do! I can well imagine a wood-fired oven would give this dish that extra something.
By the way, really enjoying your interview with Paolo!
mi hai dato un’ottima idea, è tanto tempo che non la faccio e rivederla fotografata qui da te mi ha messo voglia, buona domenica Frank !
Tante grazie!
Oh Frank- How timely of you. I’ve been in Puglia this week eating exactly this dish. It’s everywhere and yours looks as good, if not better than what i’ve seen here.
Wow, Linda—how you flatter me…
That looks fabulous, Frank! I’ve got tomato plants (no tomatoes yet), oregano, and potatoes in the garden. I’m pinning this to find it when we have some homegrown tomatoes! 🙂
Sounds like a plan, Kath! Do let us know how you like it.
This is very like a recipe from the Cordon Bleu book which I have been making for many years. The only difference is that the onions are fried first and the potatoes cooked, which makes it a bit of a faff, so I always try to prepare it the day before. It’s great with roast pork and always gets a really good reception. I have often wondered about the name it has in the book, “Tomatoes Provençals”, because to me, these are the baked tomatoes, which are stuffed with garlic, parsley and breadcrumbs, that one sees all over France. I’ll definitely give your recipe a go, it looks much easier than mine.