Calabria / Cosenza
Licurdia
Calabrian onion and potato soup over toasted bread
This is an onion and potato soup — red onions cooked down slowly until sweet, then ladled over toasted bread.
Tested and written by Erika A. Cochran
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Prep
20 minutes
Cook
50 minutes
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
Region
Cosenza, Calabria
What you’ll need
Ingredients
Written for 4.
Showing quantities at 1× the original recipe.
- 1¾ lb red onions, thinly sliced (about 5–6 medium onions)
- 14 oz potatoes, peeled and diced (about 2–3 medium potatoes)
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 4¼ cups light vegetable broth or water
- 1 dried Calabrian chilli, crumbled
- 4 thick slices of stale country bread, toasted
- ⅔ cup grated pecorino
- Sea salt
At the stove
Instructions
Warm the olive oil in a heavy pot over low heat. Add the onions and a good pinch of salt and cook very gently for 20 minutes, stirring, until completely soft and sweet without colouring.
Add the potatoes and stir for 2 minutes.
Pour in the broth, add the chilli, and simmer for 25–30 minutes until the potatoes are collapsing and the soup has thickened.
Crush some of the potato against the side of the pot to give the soup body, then taste and season.
Set a slice of toasted bread in each bowl, ladle the soup over it, and scatter generously with pecorino.
Let it stand for two minutes so the bread softens before serving.
Recipe notes
Cook the onions slowly. Browning them changes the dish; the sweetness should come from time, not colour.
Red onions from Tropea are the classic choice, but any sweet red onion works.
Context
Licurdia is associated with Cosenza and its surrounding villages, built around red onions, potatoes, stale bread, and chilli. Recipes differ from household to household.
Sources: Editorial adaptation of documented Calabrian regional cooking, Casa Magnelli Kitchen
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