The Window Latch and Two Ways with Potatoes

The rain came back in the night and left everything rinsed by morning, so I walked up the hill behind the house before the next shower arrived. The vineyards are nearly finished — you can see where the picking has already been through, and the smell off the wet leaves is one of my favorite things about this time of year. Somebody’s pear tree is still holding on to a dozen fruit at the very top where nobody can reach them, which I find funny every single September. I came home with wet shoes and the good kind of tired.

Then I finally dealt with the bedroom window latch, which has rattled in every wind since June and has been waking me up in a way I kept pretending it wasn’t. I’d assumed it needed a new latch, but it only needed the strike plate nudged — two turns of the screwdriver and a thin shim of leather behind it, and the catch sits firm. I stood there shaking the frame like an idiot just to hear it not rattle. Ten minutes of work I’d been putting off for three months, and I’m starting to believe the ratio of dread to actual difficulty on these little jobs is about ten to one, every time.

Supper was pasta e patate, which I make the way my aunt did: a little soffritto first, the potatoes tossed in the oil until the edges go glossy, then the water, and the pasta cooked right in it. The neighbor across the way makes it the other way — everything into the pot cold, potatoes, pasta, water, and let it find its own way. Hers is softer and asks nothing of you; mine has a bit more depth and needs watching or the potatoes catch. I’ve decided they aren’t really competing. Hers is for a night when you’re tired, mine for when you want to stand at the stove with a glass of wine and stir. Same three ingredients, two different evenings.

Which put me in mind of the difference between a copy and a hard link, the same idea wearing different clothes. cp gives you a second file with a life of its own — change one, the other doesn’t care. ln gives the same file a second name, so a change made through either one shows up in both, because it was never two things to begin with. Neither is better; it depends whether you want them to stay in step. My aunt and the neighbor, if you follow me. The pot is still warm on the stove, the window is quiet, and I’ll take that.

Recipe: Pasta e Patate

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot and 1 celery stalk, finely chopped (optional)
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste or 2 tablespoons passata (optional)
• 1.2 litres water or light stock
• 200 g short pasta (mixed pasta or ditalini)
• salt and black pepper
• grated pecorino or parmesan, to serve

Preparation

1. Warm the oil in a heavy pot and cook the onion (with carrot and celery, if using) gently until soft, about 8 minutes.
2. Add the potatoes and stir for 2–3 minutes so they take on a little colour, then stir in the tomato paste if using.
3. Pour in the water, season with salt, and simmer until the potatoes are nearly tender, about 15 minutes. Break a few against the side of the pot to thicken it.
4. Add the pasta and cook in the same pot until al dente, stirring now and then; it should end up thick and spoonable, not soupy. Add a little hot water if it tightens too much.
5. Check the salt, grind in some pepper, and serve with a drizzle of raw olive oil and a spoon of grated cheese. Better after ten minutes off the heat, and very good the next day.