‘Soffitto, is an aromatic mix of onion, carrot and celery, is the base for most sauces, soups, stews and braises in Italian cuisine. A ratio of 2:1:1 of onion, carrot and celery is generally agreed on, but some regions of Italy prefer to include other aromatics such as garlic, parsley, rosemary and bay. In some instances, bacon or pancetta is also added for an even richer flavour base.

Soffitto is the Italian word for ‘fried slowly, as after the vegetables have been finely diced they are then gently cooked in a generous amount of olive oil and sometimes butter. Traditionally chopped with a mezzaluna and stirred with a wooden spoon, the soffritto should be cooked until dorata (golden brown). Doing so releases all the flavours from the vegetables, resulting in a rich basis to begin any dish.’

Well, thank you Great British Chefs website.

( I just want to say that I cut and pasted that from their website but might like to point out that whilst soffritto means sauted slowly, soffitto means a ceiling. I am nothing if not a bit slapdash, but just saying.)

Now, I am a huge fan of soffritto and indeed, sorry to admit this but I stole a mezzaluna from a rented apartment in Brussels owned by an Italian woman, and I use it all the time – even now in Deepest Sussex.

I have to say in my defence, she was getting in house clearers after we left, and her corner bath with jacuzzi jets was rubbish. Just saying.

In case you need to know, a mezzaluna is a curved blade with handles either end and very useful for chopping things finely – herbs for example, but in this case onions, celery and carrots for home-made soffritto.

I might get back to making my own soffritto in large and time-consuming batches and freezing them, but for now Waitrose is a great help.

There isn’t a meal of the right sort which can’t be improved by some soffritto.

Any stew/casserole, stuffed cabbage leaves, soup, the alarming-sounding but actually very good lentil cottage pie….

And, whilst on the subject of there is the soffritto passata which also comes ready made.

I am sure that there is a reader or two out there, sucking their lips with disapproval at the thought of processed food, but on the health stakes, we are not talking a frozen deep fried mars bar here, people.

These are the bases for some good home-cooked food.

Chop up some celery and carrot and slowly sauté it gently in some olive oil, not too much because you want it to caramelised not stew. Peel and chop up some potatoes. When the celery and carrot are slightly carmalised, its takes say half an hour, add in some onions and garlic and, oh a bay leaf or two, some oregano and you could add a sachet of ready-done soffritto, just to add even more depth and body but you don’t have to.

Add in the bottle of passata and the potatoes and cook until the potatoes are soft, and you have a soup.

I add in some stock made with Marigold bouillon powder to thin it out a bit. Maybe a slurp of chilli flavoured oil. One way or another, you will need to add some seasoning.

And should you have some leftover greens they can go in, or indeed finely sliced raw greens put in when the potatoes have cooked for a bit but still need a few more minutes.

If you are in a hurry, you can skip the caramelising half hour, but it does make a difference.

Or you can just add a sachet of the ready made soffritto to the passata, add a bit of water and you are done.

Whilst we are on the subject of potatoes – well I am anyway – my life would be very sad indeed if potatoes were not around.

All shapes and sizes, all flavours, endlessly useful, cheap, versatile and yes I know, heavy on the carbs but until I am diagnosed with diabetes or a strange allergy to potassium, they will stay well up my favourite foods list.

( I may have mentioned before but one of my desert island meals would be a good salad and chips. Indeed, it might be the meal I rescue from the waves.)

Anyway, I could bore you with potatoes recipes but before I do that, I was interested to find out that Maris Piper, a very useful and easy to please variety is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most popular variety in Britain.

I was hoping the name had some romantic history but apparently, the Maris came from the Maris Lane where the plant breeding institute which had spent many years making sure this new high yield, disease -resistant potato variety, was located.

The Piper was suggested by the main scientist’s son – and he, the main scientist, won The Queen’s Award for Technology in 1982 for his potato. Who’d have thought?

Wrongly but entertainingly, the slang word for potato, spud, was said to have originated in the initial letters of the Society for the Prevention of Unwholesome Diet.

Apparently, but boringly, it is more likely to be based on derivations of the word for a small knife/dagger/blade which was used to dig a hole in which to plant the potatoes.

As for King Edwards:

‘It was bred by a gardener in Northumberland who called it ‘Fellside Hero’ and passed into the hands of a grower in Yorkshire and in turn a potato merchant in Manchester who having no use for it passed it onto John Butler of Lincolnshire. He in turn purchased all the seed stocks available and multiplied the variety on 50 acres of land before renaming the variety King Edward on the advice of a potato merchant.’ Wikipedia

I do wish I was buying Fellside Hero rather than a dead rather uninteresting monarch….

I am writing this on a wet and dark February evening in Derbyshire, so the sweet, just-harvested-from-the-garden, first early potatoes feel like a long way away.

A bowl or Rockets, or Jazzy or Vivaldi – bring on early summer.

And the idea of nipping back to France and having lovely yellowy Ratte potatoes in a little bistro somewhere also seems unlikely – not that they are not grown but ‘nipping to France’ is a much more laughable idea than it used to be what with one thing (Brexit) and another….

I think I have said this before but there is little better than mint butter with new potatoes and it has amazed me during my many years on the planet, there are people out there who have never heard of this.

So good salted butter left out of the fridge to soften. Fresh mint (from the garden if you can) chopped with a mezzaluna or sharp knife. Mix two together and slather on the freshest new potatoes you can lay your hands on.

Meanwhile, on dreary Sundays, bubble and squeak.

My friend Wikipedia, says the name derives from the noise the frying ingredients made in the pan – but when it was first named that, in the 17th century, and the ingredients were beef and onions.

My friend Wikipedia, also gives you a whole page on recipes and recommendations from chefs. The twentieth century , based on potatoes, recipe started when rationing meant potatoes were a more likely ingredient than lots of leftover beef. And cabbage is the traditional vegetable.

But, potato cooks, feel free to use what you fancy. As long as you start with mashed ( quite coarsely ) with butter but no milk or egg, potatoes, feel emboldened.

My grandmother always called spring onions scallions and they were always added – not raw you understand but cooked. Some pre-fried bacon or leftover meat, chopped up brussel sprouts, herbs like dill or parsley and roasted garlic,…. I have, though only once, used gently sauted red peppers and won’t be doing that again – wrong vibe all round.

However, some variations would be considered heresy and do you know what, I don’t care.

Some cooked cauliflower mixed in and then some cheese.

Yes I know that does not count as bubble and squeak, but with a little grainy mustard in the mix and should you be of that disposition, a slice of good ham underneath, who’s going to quibble on names?

So, make your potatoes and whatever you are putting in with them. Make them into fishcake sized patties, put in the fridge until you need them, but at least 30 minutes.

Heat some olive oil and if you like, a dollop more butter, and fry until brown and then turn over and again fry until nicely, deliciously, crisply browned.

You have your Sunday supper – Antiques Roadshow or The Great Pottery Throwdown, fire lit, and all is well with our world.

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