Patate ‘vastase’ alla trapanese (Trapani Style Potato Casserole)

Patate vastase alla trapanese is a simple but tasty casserole dish from Sicily, and specifically the area around Trapani on its western shores. The jocular knickname ‘vastase‘ has various meanings in local dialect, literally ‘porter’ (facchino) but figuratively a rough, ill-mannered, low class or rude person. Here you might simply translate it as rustic.

As the name implies, this rough and ready dish practically makes itself. You just mix cut up potatoes with sliced onion, cherry tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper and olive oil. Bake it all in a hot oven until the potatoes are tender and lightly brown on top. Topped with bits of mozzarella, it goes back into the oven, this time just until the mozzarella has melted. After a brief rest to let the casserole cool a bit and settle, you’re ready to serve.

The potatoes are the perfect foil for the tomato, onions and oregano, while the mozzarella provides a rich and creamy topping. It’s a typically southern Italian combination of flavors vaguely reminiscent of pizza and, if you ask me, nearly as delicious. While you can enjoy this dish at any time of year, it’s particularly nice as we transition from summer to autumn. A lovely way to use up the last of the summer tomatoes.

Patate vastase makes a fine side dish. But if you double the portions, the dish is hefty enough to serve as a vegetarian main.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 as a side dish, 2-3 as a main course

• 500 (1 lbs) yellow potatoes, peeled and cut into largish slices, wedges or chunks
• 250-300g (8-10 oz) cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1 small red or yellow onion, or half a large one, peeled and sliced (not too thin)
• A good pinch of dried oregano
• salt and pepper, to taste
• olive oil

To finish the dish:

• 1 or 2 balls of mozzarella, about 110-125g (4 oz) each, cut into cubes or torn into pieces

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, add the potatoes, tomatoes, onion, seasonings and oil. Mix well with a spatula, or better, with your hands.

Transfer all the ingredients to a greased baking dish. Drizzle over a bit more of the olive oil. Bake in a hot (200C/400F) oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until the potatoes are perfectly tender and lightly browned on top.

Take the baking dish out of the oven. Top the potatoes the mozzarella.

Return the baking dish to the oven and continue baking just until the mozzarella has melted, about 5-10 minutes.

Let the dish rest for a few minutes and serve.

Notes on patate alla vastese

This easy peasy dish should pose few, if any problems for even beginner cooks. The only slight thing to look out for is to avoid sogginess from the mozzarella, which is sometimes quite full of liquid. The brief time it takes to melt won’t be long enough to cook that liquid off. See ‘Mozzarella’ below for some tips for avoiding this little pitfall.

By the way, I know some cooks will balk, but using your hands really is the best way to mix the ingredients. It’s by far the quickest way to do it. And the best way to make sure all the ingredients are uniformly mixed together. Just make sure they’re impeccable washed.

Like so many simple Italian dishes, the real key to success here is to choose the right ingredients:

Potatoes

You want yellow potatoes, the kind with firm flesh (sometimes called ‘waxy’) that don’t turn mushy. Here in North America, Yukons Golds are ideal but other butter, yellow or golden potatoes will also work.

Recipes for patate vastase vary on how to prep the potatoes. All call for peeling, although your potatoes have thin skins (as they should) you can leave them unpeeled if you like. But then things get interesting. Some recipes have you cut the potatoes in to rather thick slices, others into wedges and yet others into chunks or cubes. There’s no right way, but whatever their shape, do keep the pieces a bit on the larger side.

Tomatoes

Most recipes call for pomodorini, or cherry tomatoes. After all, Sicily is home to the ne plus ultra of cherry tomatoes, the mythical IGP protected pomodorini di Pachino from the eponymous town in southeastern Sicily. Funny story: when I first moved to Rome and for years afterwards, I thought the Italian word for cherry tomato was pachino since all the cherry tomatoes I saw in stores and markets bore that name. Something tells me they weren’t all IGP… And in fact, pomodori di Pachino actually come in various types and sizes.

Obviously most of us will need to settle for our local cherry or grape tomatoes, which will work just fine. In fact, here in the US, cherry and grape tomatoes are often the only flavorful tomatoes I can find outside of farmers markets. And if you still have homegrown tomatoes, all the better. Not too big—I wouldn’t use beefsteaks, for example—but any reasonably small tomato such as plums will work, cut into slices or chunks.

Mozzarella

You want fresh mozzarella if you can find it, for its superior taste. Given the indifferent quality of the domestic mozzarella in my area, I spurged on imported mozzarella di bufala and didn’t regret it. It has marvelous flavor which really elevated the dish to another level of deliciousness. That said, good old fior di latte will work just fine. It’s what most recipes call for.

You want to make sure the mozzarella is well drained of any excess liquid, since it will only cook for a few minutes at the end. Otherwise, you risk winding up with a soggy plate of potatoes. Dry mozzarella, not packed in its own whey, won’t pose any issues, but if you’re working with the wet kind, do be sure to remove it from its whey, rip it up and drain the pieces well between two paper towels.

Truly fresh mozzarella will take only a few minutes to melt, 5 minutes tops. The dry kind will take a bit longer. It also helps to let the dish rest for a few minutes before serving. Not only will it cool your patate vastase to a more palatable temperature, but the potatoes should absorb any excess cooking juices, making them even more flavorful. That said, don’ wait too long or the mozzarella will lose its creaminess.

Variations

As usual with these rustic recipes, the measurements in recipes for patate vastase are all over the map in terms of how much tomato and mozzarella vs potato to use.

Some really smother the potatoes entirely with the mozzarella, so that only the melted cheese shows when the dish is done. Others just add flecks here and there. And everything in between. At the end of the day, of course, it’s really a matter of taste.

Some like to let the mozzarella bake until it’s not just melted, but actually bubbling brown on top. Especially if using lots, so the dish becomes a kind of cheesy gratin. Others mix the mozzarella into the potatoes rather than using them as a topping. In some recipes, scamorza, another pasta filata cheese, subs for the mozzarella.

If you want a more substantial (and non vegetarian) dish, you could add some crumbled sausage meat to the casserole. You can sauté it or just add it raw, as it will cook in the oven.

Other like southern Italian potato casseroles

By the way, if you like this dish, you might also want to try tiella di patate, cipolle e pomodori, a potato casserole from Puglia, and patate alla lucana, one from Basilicata, both of which strongly resemble this one.

Making patate vastase ahead

This is a dish you really want to eat right out of the oven. It really loses much of its charm when it’s reheated. That said, you can make patate vastase ahead if you must. But hold off on the mozzarella and add it popping it in a hot oven for a brief spell. This will ensure the mozzarella stays creamy.

If you have leftovers—as unlikely as that is—then the entire dish can be reheated as well. It won’t be nearly as good, but perfectly edible.

Print Recipe

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Patate ‘vastase’ alla trapanese

Trapani Style Potato Casserole

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Rest15 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Sicilia

Keyword: baked

Servings: 4

Calories: 243.2kcal

Ingredients

• 500 g yellow potatoes, peeled and cut into largish slices, wedges or chunks
• 250-300 g cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1 small red or yellow onion or half a large one, peeled and sliced (not too thin)
• A good pinch of dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

To finish the dish:

• 1 or 2 balls of mozzarella about 110-125g (4 oz) each, cut into cubes or torn into pieces

Metric – US

Instructions

• In a large mixing bowl, add the potatoes, tomatoes, onion, seasonings and oil. Mix well with a spatula, or better, with your hands.
• Transfer all the ingredients to a greased baking dish. Drizzle over a bit more of the olive oil. Bake in a hot (200C/400F) oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until the potatoes are perfectly tender and lightly browned on top.
• Take the baking dish out of the oven. Top the potatoes the mozzarella.
• Return the baking dish to the oven and continue baking just until the mozzarella has melted, about 5-10 minutes.
• Let the dish rest for a few minutes and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 243.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 27.6g | Protein: 10.4g | Fat: 10.7g | Saturated Fat: 4.6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4.6g | Cholesterol: 24.7mg | Sodium: 211.5mg | Potassium: 726.4mg | Fiber: 3.7g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 519.9IU | Vitamin C: 40.9mg | Calcium: 186mg | Iron: 1.6mg

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