Carne a grassato alla catanese, the recipe for Sicilian-style stew with potatoes is a much-loved recipe from the Sicilian cuisine and grandmother’s recipes, like Falsomagro al sugo or Sugo di carnevale alla catanese. The Sicilian Carne aggrassato is a grandmother’s recipe with a name as odd as it is delicious. The aggrassato stew with potatoes is a dish of Sicilian culinary tradition and, as often happens with typical recipes, there are countless variations: not only does every province have its own, but also each town, hamlet or even family has an exclusive version they consider the best. For example, some people like carne a grassato with peas, while others prefer carne aggrassato with potatoes and sauce and therefore add tomato paste or passata. When I was little, the white version of carne a grassato with potatoes was the dish my grandmother Cettina, my mother’s mother, prepared for Sunday. But what does “carne a grassato” mean? I’ll tell you straight away: grassato does not mean fatty, but glazed. And this glaze comes from the little sauce formed by the potatoes breaking down into the meat broth, a kind of delicate creamy coating that envelops every piece of meat making it soft, velvety and comforting, and that can also be used to dress pasta, which then becomes pasta aggrassato. That’s because carne a grassato in white with potatoes is true comfort food, a stew with potatoes that originated long ago when meat was scarce and eaten once a week; it was cooked with potatoes to increase the number of servings. And precisely because of that you could fill up on little, giving rise to the saying “i patati su megghiu da carni” (potatoes are better than meat). Let’s go to the kitchen and prepare it together — I’m sure you’ll like it too — but first a reminder: if you want to stay updated on my recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.

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