Potatoes Fontecchio -- The Recipe I Made the Night After the Workshop That Changed Everything

The library workshop happened Tuesday evening and it was the hardest and best workshop I have done. Forty women in a space designed for quiet, arranged in folding chairs with a craft table pushed aside to make room for the assembly stations I set up an hour before, using bags of ingredients I had packed and transported in three Costco coolers from the car. The women were different from the community center women: older on average, several who came with friends or sisters, a few who came alone and sat near the back and did not speak until they were spoken to, and when they spoke the things they said were the most specific things any workshop participants have ever said to me. A woman named Inez: I have been making the same three meals for fifteen years because I did not know there was a system and now I know there is one. A woman with four grandchildren she is raising who had tears in her eyes before I had finished the first recipe and who stayed after to ask about the freezer instructions for the shepherd's pie filling. I stayed forty minutes after the class for her.

Carol from the library sent me an email Thursday that said: can you come back next month? I said yes. She said: and the month after? I said yes. She said: we need this. I said: I know.

I did not go to therapy this week. I sent my therapist an email instead and described the library workshop and the woman with the grandchildren and Inez who had been making the same three meals for fifteen years, and my therapist wrote back: this is what it looks like when grief finds its direction. I reread that sentence several times. I think she is right.

The freezer at home has twenty-six meals in it. The kitchen is clean. The summer is long and warm. The workshop worked. Thirty-six feels exactly like I thought it might.

The woman who stayed forty minutes after class to ask about freezer instructions — she is the reason I keep a recipe like this one in my rotation. Potatoes Fontecchio is the kind of dish I come back to when I want something grounding and real: few ingredients, honest technique, the sort of thing you can make once and eat from all week. When I got home that Tuesday night, still carrying the weight and warmth of what had happened in that library, I made a batch of these and stood at the stove thinking about Inez, about fifteen years of the same three meals, about how a system changes everything. This is a recipe worth knowing. It is worth passing on.

Potatoes Fontecchio

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• Grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan, for serving

Instructions

1. Parboil the potatoes. Place potato chunks in a large pot and cover with cold salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 8–10 minutes, until just barely fork-tender but not fully cooked through. Drain and set aside.
2. Sauté the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7–8 minutes until softened and beginning to turn golden. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
3. Add the potatoes. Add the drained potatoes to the skillet. Stir gently to coat with the oil and onion mixture. Sprinkle in the rosemary, oregano, salt, and pepper. Let the potatoes sit undisturbed for 3–4 minutes so they develop a golden crust on the bottom, then stir and repeat once or twice.
4. Deglaze and finish. Pour in the broth and stir, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover loosely, and cook for 10–12 minutes until the potatoes are completely tender and have absorbed most of the liquid.
5. Season and serve. Taste and adjust salt as needed. Transfer to a serving dish, scatter fresh parsley over the top, and finish with a generous handful of grated Pecorino Romano. Serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 34g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 310mg