GENOVESE POTATO CAKE--From Italy c/o England

(be careful, as in the rest of Italy, Polpettone is a large meat loaf).


You eat this cold as a snack, warm with roasts, or on its own with salad.

500 grams french beans (in fact you can use anything green that you like)

500 grams floury potatoes

4 eggs

2-4 cloves garlic

100 grams parmesan

20 grams dried porcini

100 grams bread crumbs

Marjoram

Half a glass of olive oil

Sea Salt and pepper to taste



Boil the beans and potatoes separately in salted water.

Mash them and mix together along with the eggs, dried mushrooms (previously soaked in water), the crushed garlic, some of the oil and salt and pepper.

Push mixture into a greased baking tray. The mixture should be about 2 cm in depth. Score the top lightly with a fork, sprinkle with bread crumbs, some more oil and bake at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes.

This is genuine old 'cucina povera', and is the kind of thing that you can buy from the snack food shops in a piece of paper, to be eaten as you wander the city window shopping.

Lyn Middlehurst -- London, England