Potatoes «sotto il coppo»

The coppo (or «coppa») is a bell-shaped lid of iron or terracotta. It is placed over a pan set on the embers of the fireplace and in turn covered with embers and hot ash: heat comes from above and below, as in an oven.

Potatoes are the simplest thing to cook this way: cut into wedges and dressed with oil, garlic and rosemary, they become crisp and smoky. In the Marsica, with Fucino potatoes, they are a classic side for meat.

• 1 kg potatoes (yellow-fleshed, ideally from the Fucino)
• 3 unpeeled garlic cloves
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 5–6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt and pepper

1. Light the fire at least an hour beforehand, so a good bed of embers forms.
2. Peel the potatoes (or leave the skins on, well washed) and cut them into wedges.
3. Put them in an iron or terracotta pan with the oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and mix well.
4. Make room in the embers, set the pan down and cover it with the coppo; cover the coppo with embers and hot ash.
5. Cook for 45–60 minutes, checking now and then and renewing the embers on top; turn the potatoes halfway.
6. They are ready when golden and a fork goes in easily. Serve at once.

• Without a fireplace: use a cast-iron pot with a lid in the oven at 220 °C, removing the lid for the last 15 minutes.
• Parboiling the potatoes for 5 minutes makes them soft inside and crisper outside.
• You can cook sausages or pieces of lamb under the coppo together with the potatoes.

We do not have photos of this dish yet: the image is an illustration made for this page.

Before home ovens, the fireplace was the kitchen: the cauldron hung above and food was cooked under the coppo in the embers. Families without an oven took bread to the village oven, but for everyday dishes the coppo was enough.

In mountain homes around L’Aquila and in the Marsica the coppo still comes out in winter, for potatoes, cornbread and lamb.