Home Fries Trieste Style Recipes

Steps:

• Rinse potato cubes with cold water, and drain well. Melt butter or margarine in a large skillet over medium heat. Place potatoes in the skillet, and stir to coat with butter. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid, and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the lid, and cook for another 10 minutes, turning frequently until brown and crisp on all sides..

Steps:

• Arrange potato pieces evenly on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave on high until just tender, about 4 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Cut potatoes into bite-size chunks.
• Heat butter and olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When butter melts and starts to turn brown, swirl the pan and add the potatoes. Shake pan to arrange in an even layer. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder.
• As potatoes brown, toss them and keep turning them every few minutes until they are crusty and crispy-edged and a rich reddish-brown color, 10 to 12 minutes. If potatoes seem to be cooking too quickly, reduce heat to medium. Serve topped with chopped chives.

Steps:

• In a large skillet, cook chopped bacon over medium-low heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Remove bacon drippings from pan and reserve. , Working in batches, add 1/4 cup bacon drippings, potatoes, onion, salt and pepper to pan; toss to coat. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until potatoes are golden brown and tender, 15-20 minutes, adding more drippings as needed. Stir in cooked bacon; serve immediately.

Steps:

• Cut potatoes into 3/4-inch cubes. Cut onion into 2 or 3 slices, then cut rings in half and separate the layers.
• Heat oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add cubed potatoes to the hot skillet and season with garlic salt and seasoned salt. Spread them out evenly over the bottom and allow to cook for 5 to 8 minutes without turning. Turn, and continue cooking, turning every 5 to 8 minutes, until evenly browned.
• When potatoes have reached the desired color, add onion. Cook, stirring every couple of minutes, until onion is slightly cooked, 5 to 8 minutes longer.
• Carefully remove potatoes and onions from the oil and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Allow to cool for 2 to 5 minutes before serving.

Steps:

• Put the potatoes, whole and unpeeled, in a large pot, with cold water covering them by a few inches. Bring to a steady boil, and cook just until they are easily pierced with a fork or a sharp knife blade-don't let them get mushy or fall apart. Drain, cool, and peel the potatoes. Break them up into irregular chunks, roughly 1 inch or larger, with a sharp utensil. I use a large serving spoon with a thin edge, so the pieces have curved surfaces; avoid forking them apart, as the potatoes tend to crumble.
• Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in the skillet over moderate heat. Stir in the onion and heat until sizzling gently. Gather it on one side of the pan to cook and soften in a small area, and spread the cut bacon in the rest of the skillet. Fry the bacon, tossing and spreading it out, until the fat is rendered and the pieces are getting crisp, while the onion wilts and starts to color, 5 minutes or more.
• Stir onion and bacon together, spill the potato chunks in the pan, and toss to mix everything. Raise the heat slightly, season with the salt and freshly ground pepper, and drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil all over. Keep tumbling and tossing until the potatoes are hot and sizzling, spread them to fill the pan in an even layer, and press the top flat with a spatula.
• Lower the heat, and cook without disturbing until the underside of the potato disk is caramelized and crispy, 5 minutes or longer. With the spatula, lift and turn the potatoes, breaking up the disk and bringing the crusty bits to the top. Stir and spread the potato chunks, and press flat, as before, and cook until the bottom is golden.
• Repeat the sequence of turning the potatoes, pressing them into a flat disk or cake, caramelizing the bottom for a few minutes, then tumbling it over, about a half-dozen times.
• After 40 minutes, or longer, when the potatoes have been crusted all over-and there are browned bits in every bite-season with salt and pepper to taste, press flat, and crisp the bottom well for a couple of minutes over medium heat. Place a large plate on top of the skillet and invert, dropping the cake out of the pan, then slide it back into the skillet for a final crusting.
• Slide or invert onto the plate, and serve right away.
• Garden vegetables are very important in Trieste, especially salads. Radicchio zuccherino, a small, green, leafy cluster from the chicory family, might as well be on the local flag, it is so popular; it is enjoyed with just some wine vinegar and olive oil tossed in a bowl that has been rubbed with garlic. The first cut, or primo taglio, is the most prized, each leaf being no bigger than a thumbnail. As the season progresses, the radicchio grows dense like grass and is recut at the root four or five times, each time becoming a little tougher and a little more complex and bitter. I love it at that stage, but I also love when it gets older and is mixed with hard-boiled eggs and cooked cannellini beans to soften it.
• Radicchio goes well with fish preparations such as grilled branzino (Mediterranean sea bass) or grilled orata (gilded bass) as well as grilled or fried calamari or seppia (cuttlefish) braised in a sauce and served with polenta. So try some of these dishes at the local eating places when you are in Trieste.
• You'll also find mussels doused with white wine and finished with some bread crumbs (Steamed Mussels Trieste Style, page 43) in bowls on trattoria tables. And in season there are mackerel and sardines in saor (Sardines in Onion-Wine Marinade, page 45), an onionand- wine-vinegar marinade. It is all good, straightforward eating that you'll get in Trieste.

Steps:

• Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water by about 2 inches. Season with salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer until just tender, about 6 minutes. Drain and set aside.
• Cook the bacon in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Pour all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings into a small bowl and set aside. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
• Wipe out the skillet and return to medium-high heat. Heat the remaining bacon fat and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in the skillet. Add the potatoes, season with salt and pepper to taste, and arrange in a single layer. Cook, without stirring, until well browned on 1 side, about 4 minutes. Using a spatula, turn the potatoes in small sections, and continue cooking, turning occasionally, about 6 minutes or until well browned. Stir in the onions, heat through, and sprinkle with the parsley and cayenne, if desired. Transfer to a warm platter and crumble the bacon on top, serve. Copyright 2005 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes, cover and cook over medium-high heat until just tender, about 6 minutes; drain.
• Heat the butter and olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat; add the potatoes and spread into a single layer. Cook, undisturbed, until they start browning on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Add the onion and sprinkle with the paprika; flip the potatoes and cook 5 more minutes. Stir once, then continue cooking until the potatoes are mostly golden brown, about 5 more minutes.
• Meanwhile, roughly chop the garlic, pile the parsley on top and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Chop and mash together until finely minced. When the potatoes are done, add the garlic mixture to the skillet and toss to coat; cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450°F.
• Toss potatoes with dressing and pepper in 15x10x1-inch pan sprayed with cooking spray. Spread into single layer.
• Bake 40 min. or until vegetables are tender, stirring in onions after 20 min.
• Sprinkle with parsley and bacon; stir. Top with cheese. Bake 2 min. or until cheese is melted.

Steps:

• Add the oil, salt and 1/3 cup water to a medium cast-iron skillet; whisk to combine.
• Add the potato cubes in an even layer. (It's very important to not crowd the pan.) Turn heat to medium, cover the skillet and cook the potatoes, undisturbed, for about 6 minutes.
• Uncover, give them a toss or shake. Cook, uncovered and undisturbed, until the underside turns golden, then carefully flip. Repeat on all sides until the water evaporates and the potatoes are crispy all over and tender inside, about 9 minutes total.
• Transfer the home fries to a paper towel-lined plate to drain excess oil. Serve hot.