Zucchini Scarpaccia With Corn And Pecorino

August 10, 2023 by 1 Comment

zucchini and onion tart

Tis the season of zucchini and the trend right now seems to be zucchini scarpaccia. It’s basically a zucchini tart where the zucchini is the star, there are tons of  variations all over the internet right now.

It’s like a savory zucchini flatbread, baked until it forms a crunchy, golden brown top, it’s very delicious!

sauteed zucchini and onions

I changed mine up a little by adding to the zucchini and onion mixture, an ear of shucked. corn and in the batter some sharp, grated pecorino.

Several recipes say to add cornmeal to the batter, I used dry polenta.

zucchini scarpaccia

Grab a slice and have it as an appetizer, a side dish, a snack or a light main course served with a salad, like I did recently for dinner.

crispy zucchini scarpaccia

A perfect summer dish especially while zucchini is in an abundance right now.

scarpaccia slice

Easy to make, virtually a one pan meal and very soul satisfying!

Zucchini Scarpaccia With Corn And Pecorino
 
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Grab. your garden zucchini and make this savory zucchini flatbread called scarpaccia.
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Ingredients
  • 3 zucchini, medium size sliced into thin rounds
  • 1 white or red onion, medium size sliced
  • 1 ear of fresh corn, shucked
  • 1 large garlic clove, grated
  • basil
  • olive oil
  • FOR THE BATTER
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1¼ cup water
  • ⅓ cup polenta or corn meal
  • pinch of salt and pepper
  • ⅓ cup of pecorino romano
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • ( batter should be loose enough to spread, adjust with a little more water if needed)
Instructions
  1. Saute the zucchini and onion slices in a saute pan, along with the garlic for about 15 minutes until most of the moisture is gone.
  2. Let it cool down, now mix up the batter.
  3. To a bowl add the flour, water, pecorino cheese, polenta or cornmeal, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, you could also add chopped basil or leave the basil for garnish.
  4. Generously olive oil a quarter inch rimmed sheet pan well or use parchment, if you have a 9 x 13 non stick pan, all the better.
  5. Fold in the zucchini, onion and corn mixture to the batter then spread it out evenly over the pan.
  6. Lightly sprinkle the top with a little polenta, grated pecorino and a drizzle of olive oil.
  7. Bake at 400 til golden and crunchy on top, time may vary according to oven temps 35-45 minutes or so.
  8. Garnish with basil.
  9. Cool down and slice!

 

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1 Comment Filed Under: Appetizers, Savory Tarts, Side Dishes, Summer, Vegetables Tagged: , ,

Spaghetti with Blistered Tomatoes, Burrata and Corn

August 10, 2018 by 8 Comments

spaghetti with tomatoes

This recipe is summer freshness at it’s best, and the great thing about it is that the preparation is nice and simple but yields the most amazing results!

What you’re looking at are strands of spaghetti intertwined with juicy, cherry tomatoes that have burst and blistered in the oven to create the most luxurious tomato and garlic flavored sauce with the special addition of sweet, fresh corn kernels and burrata cheese.

spaghetti with tomatoes

Fresh summer flavors are what makes this dish such a hit, there’s no special skills you need in making it because the ingredients speak for themselves.

Do a search and you’ll see roasted tomatoes and pasta all over the place, but I make this every summer and this is my way of doing it and what works for me. So rather than a recipe at the bottom of the post I’ll just walk you through the steps now.

blistered tomatoes

I use a quarter sheet pan that has a rim on it. Heat the oven to 425F and line the pan with foil. Lining it with foil helps to gather and hold on to those precious, silky juices, plus it helps prevents the juices from burning off.

I really don’t measure the amount of tomatoes I use, I just load the pan from rim to rim, single layer with cherry or grape tomatoes, you could use all red or colored.

I leave the tomatoes whole so they can burst on their own when ready.

Add in four cloves of crushed garlic, torn basil, salt, pepper and dowse it generously all over with extra virgin olive oil.

When you start to see the tomatoes split pull the pan out of the oven and with the tip of a small paring knife pierce each tomato to let the hot juices release, word of caution, lean back  because sometimes the juice will squirt out at you, then before it goes back into the oven add the fresh kernels of two ears of sweet corn, continue cooking until you see the tomatoes wrinkle and all the juices mingling together with the olive oil, garlic and corn.

blistered tomatoes and corn

It should look like this. Now all you have to do is cook up your spaghetti or pasta of your choice and then toss everything together, make sure you get every bit of that juice incorporated, use a rubber spatula to make sure you scrape off all that glorious juice. For this amount of saucey goodness I used twelve ounces of pasta.

spaghetti with tomatoes

When all the silky sauce is mixed in break open your burrata cheese, (as much as you want) and spread it on top, it will start to melt slightly, then adorn it with more basil, grated Parmigiano Reggiano and a quick drizzle of olive oil to finish it off.

spaghetti with tomatoes

That’s it, dig in and enjoy summer tasting at it’s best!

Follow me on Instagram to see what else I’m cooking up during the week.

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8 Comments Filed Under: Pasta, Summer, Uncategorized Tagged: , , ,

Tomato and Corn Pie, Italian Style

July 8, 2016 by 14 Comments

tomato and corn pie This is one of my favorite meals to make during the peek of summer because finally tomatoes actually taste like they’re suppose to taste, corn on the cob is also available and in abundance and so nice and sweet. This is what summer eating is all about to me.

tomatoes and corn Take these two essential ingredients, combine them into a pie that has caramelized onions, garden fresh basil, shredded asiago, mozzarella and romano cheese and the end result is a summer flavor explosion!

tomato and corn pie I love having big planks of corn throughout the pie, it provides a nice texture and taste with every bite.

tomato and corn pie No need for a pastry crust on top just let the tomatoes shine in all their brilliant glory, any variety will do.

tomato and corn pie

Make this as many times as you can this summer, serve it with a nice green salad. I promise you will be dreaming about this in the dead of winter!

Want to see what I’m cooking up during the week? You can follow me here on Instagram.

4.8 from 4 reviews
Tomato and Corn Pie, Italian Style
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 crust pastry dough, I used a good store bought one
  • 2 large onions sliced and then slowly caramelized until deep golden
  • tomatoes slices, any variety, enough to cover the top completely
  • 3 ears of fresh corn on the cob, cooked and cut into planks
  • shredded asiago, mozzarella enough to fully cover the bottom of the crust area
  • romano cheese
  • olive oil
  • dried oregano
  • fresh basil
Instructions
  1. Roll out your dough and place it into a pie pan
  2. Brush the crust with olive oil
  3. Sprinkle cracked black pepper all over.
  4. Prick the crust all over with a fork.
  5. Layer the bottom with the shredded mozzarella and the asiago, fully covering the bottom, then give it a good sprinkling of grated romano cheese.
  6. On top of the cheese scatter the caramelized onions all around and the fresh basil
  7. Place the fresh corn planks all around filling the top.
  8. Give a quick olive oil drizzle and more romano cheese on top of the corn planks.
  9. Arrange sliced tomatoes on top, sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried oregano.
  10. Do a final quick drizzle of olive oil all over.
  11. Bake in a pre-heated, 375 degree oven until the crust is crispy and a deep golden brown.
  12. Let it cool down before cutting into it.
  13. Garnish with more fresh basil.

 

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14 Comments Filed Under: Pies, Summer Tagged: , ,

Brussels Sprout, Kale and Corn Pie

November 21, 2014 by 3 Comments

brussel sprout, kale corn pie With Thanksgiving less than a week away I’m sure all of your menus are pretty much planned and now the cooking and prepping begins!

I don’t know about you, but until then I’m not cooking anything very elaborate, in fact all these ingredients for this luscious pie were just sitting in my fridge, and I bet most of them are in your fridge right about now.

I went easy on myself, I had a store-bought pie crust handy, some brussels sprouts that I bought way too much of, and kale, I always have kale, but spinach or swiss chard would work equally as well. Oh, and frozen corn, we all have some of that don’t we?

brussel sprout kale, corn pie I added a small leek, but an onion would do, and one clove of garlic. Then you whisk up a custard of eggs and cream and add some wonderful melt-y cheese and the end result is a wonderful, savory pie/ quiche/tart, call it whatever you want, I call it delicioso!

brussel sprout leaves I prefer pulling the looser outer leaves off of my brussels sprouts then slicing what’s left, I think it looks prettier, but it is time consuming so you don’t have to do that, you can just shred or slice them up or even use leftover cooked sprouts.

pre cooking pie crust Roll out your dough, then pre-cook it for 7 minutes until set using pie weights.

ingredients for brussel sprout pie Saute the brussels sprouts and kale until they start to wilt, adding them in raw is not good, then crisp up your leeks or onion.

ingredients for brussel sprout pieThen a mixture of  grated parmesan or romano and a shredded cheese of your choice, maybe a fontina or chedder, something that melts nice, I had a package of Gruyere that I wanted to use up.

After the piecrust is precooked add all the sauteed veggies, top with the cheese and pour on the eggy custard.

brussel sprout kale, corn pie I like to reserve some of the veggies to place on top after you add the custard and cheese because it tends to cover everything up.

brussel sprout kale, corn pie

 

You can add a salad to this if you’d like, or just cut a nice wedge and pour a glass of wine like I did, it’s a quick eat when you’re busy, like prepping for the holidays, and you’ll be very happy to have leftovers for the next day!

I probably won’t be posting much until after Thanksgiving, but if you want to see what I’m up to, pretty much on a daily basis, follow me  here on Instagram!

Brussels Sprout, Kale and Corn Pie
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 9" piecrust, homemade or store-bought
  • 3 cups of slightly cooked and wilted brussels sprouts
  • 3 leaves of kale cut chiffonade style sauteed, slightly cooked and wilted down
  • ½ cup, frozen corn,
  • 1 small leek, or onion, sauteed and caramelized
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 3 branches of fresh thyme
  • 1 cup of shredded cheese, Gruyere, fontina or chedder
  • ⅓ cup grated parmesan or romano
  • 3 whole eggs
  • 1¼ cup of heavy cream or half and half
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees, roll out piecrust and place into a 9" pie plate that has been brushed with olive oil.
  2. Add a piece of parchment on top and some pie weights, or dry beans. Place on a baking sheet and cook for 7 minutes, then remove and cool and reduce oven to 375.
  3. Saute the brussels sprouts, kale just until it starts to wilt, you could add the frozen corn also, then let it cool down.
  4. Saute the leek, garlic and thyme in a drizzle of olive oil until nicely golden, let cool, then mix all the veggies together.
  5. Whisk up the eggs, the grated cheese and the heavy cream together.
  6. Arrange all the veggies on the precooked and cooled piecrust, reserve some for top after egg mixture is poured.
  7. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top.
  8. Pour the egg custard all around.
  9. Place some of the reserved veggies on top.
  10. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, let it cool down, then cut.

 

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