How to Make Scarpaccia (Italian Vegetable Tart)
By Cheryl Forberg
We haven’t had a vegetable garden in a couple of years since we’ve been traveling so much. But when we do plant a garden, we traditionally have lots of tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, fennel, and zucchini. It seems they’ve fared well wherever we’ve lived. I have to say that by September, though, I will be getting a little bored with the same veggies, as they’ve been a standby on our daily menus for months at this point.
Luckily, our recent travels to Italy have introduced us to new spins on our favored ingredients. Tuscan recipes are particularly fitting, as the climate is so similar to our former farm in Northern California. Many of the summer fruits and vegetables are the same.
I was really hoping to find a new way to enjoy zucchini, and I found it in Scarpaccia. No, that is not a town. It is the name of a vegetable tart or flatbread, and they say it originated in a coastal town in northern Italy called Viareggio.
This recipe is very simple and very tasty. Prepping the vegetables takes the most time but it makes a good-sized recipe with plenty of leftovers.
Scarpaccia
This thin vegetable tart is a perfect appetizer or snack any time of the year. It is particularly appealing in the summer months when fresh vegetables are at their peak flavor, yet at the year's lowest prices. Like most of my recipes, this is very substitute-friendly. You can use mostly zucchini, which is the Italian tradition for this recipe. But it is fun to jazz up the colors, textures, and flavors by using other favorites such as bell peppers, onions and/or or fennel as well. I have seen Italian versions of this recipe that use chickpea flour instead of wheat flour. I will try that next time, but this week, I only had wheat flour on hand.
Yield: Half sheet pan (13 x 18 “) Approximately Eighteen 3 x 2” pieces
Ingredients
Veggies
1 medium green zucchini, sliced very thinly crosswise (there will be about 2 cups)
1 medium yellow zucchini, sliced very thinly crosswise (there will be about 2 cups)
1 medium red onion, halved and then sliced very thinly crosswise (there will be about 2 cups)
1 cup very thinly sliced bell pepper (seeded and white membrane removed) (used ½ red and ½ yellow)
1 cup thinly sliced fennel
2 teaspoons salt
For the batter
Dry ingredients:
1 cup white flour or gluten-free flour
1 cup fine cornmeal
1 cup grated parmesan or Romano cheese
1 ½ teaspoons Melissa’s Tuscan-Style Seasoning
Wet ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
1 egg
½ cup reserved vegetable water*
Preparation
For the vegetable filling
Prepping the vegetables takes the most time so start there. The sliced vegetables will then need to soak up added salt and then release water which takes about two hours so prep them first. Trim ends of zucchini and slice them thinly with a mandolin for uniformity. The slices should be barely an 1/8 inch thick. Put zucchini slices in a large mixing bowl. Add the other remaining vegetables, measuring them as you add to the bowl. There should be a total of about 10 cups thinly sliced raw vegetables.
Sprinkle veggies with 2 teaspoons of salt. Toss for several minutes to be sure the salt is evenly distributed. Cover and let sit for two hours (or overnight in fridge).
In a few batches, remove slices from bowl and place in the middle of a clean dish towel. Gather corners of towel and squeeze gently to release excess water into a medium size bowl. Don’t squeeze too hard; you want the vegetables slices to remain whole and somewhat retain their shape. The vegetable volume will be reduced by half at this point.
There should also be about 1 cup of drained vegetable water in the medium bowl. Reserve veggie water for scarpaccia “batter.”
In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, cornmeal, grated cheese, and seasonings. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients; egg and oil with a fork until it is creamy. Add ½ cup of the veggie water to egg mixture and mix with fork until just combined.
Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and combine with fork. The batter will be quite thick. If you need more veggie water to make the batter, add it in ¼ cup increments. I used a total of ¾ cup veggie water.
Add the veggies to the batter and toss well. I used my hands for this as well.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet over a half sheet pan (approximately 18 x 13 x 1 inches). Lightly drizzle with olive oil.
Add the veggie/batter mixture to the prepared pan. Using your hands, spread to cover the bottom. Place plastic wrap over the mixture and use a rolling pan or your hands to pat the mixture down firmly. You want it to stick together but you do not want to mash the vegetables. It will be about ½ inch thick.
Remove plastic wrap and place pan in preheated oven. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, rotating pan 2 to 3 times until scarpaccia is lightly browned. Cool and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into pieces. Serve hot or warm. Leftover servings can be wrapped and frozen.
*If you forgot to reserve the drained vegetable water, it is ok to substitute plain water.
Luckily, our recent travels to Italy have introduced us to new spins on our favored ingredients. Tuscan recipes are particularly fitting, as the climate is so similar to our former farm in Northern California. Many of the summer fruits and vegetables are the same.
I was really hoping to find a new way to enjoy zucchini, and I found it in Scarpaccia. No, that is not a town. It is the name of a vegetable tart or flatbread, and they say it originated in a coastal town in northern Italy called Viareggio.
This recipe is very simple and very tasty. Prepping the vegetables takes the most time but it makes a good-sized recipe with plenty of leftovers.
Scarpaccia
This thin vegetable tart is a perfect appetizer or snack any time of the year. It is particularly appealing in the summer months when fresh vegetables are at their peak flavor, yet at the year's lowest prices. Like most of my recipes, this is very substitute-friendly. You can use mostly zucchini, which is the Italian tradition for this recipe. But it is fun to jazz up the colors, textures, and flavors by using other favorites such as bell peppers, onions and/or or fennel as well. I have seen Italian versions of this recipe that use chickpea flour instead of wheat flour. I will try that next time, but this week, I only had wheat flour on hand.
Yield: Half sheet pan (13 x 18 “) Approximately Eighteen 3 x 2” pieces
Ingredients
1 medium green zucchini, sliced very thinly crosswise (there will be about 2 cups)
1 medium yellow zucchini, sliced very thinly crosswise (there will be about 2 cups)
1 medium red onion, halved and then sliced very thinly crosswise (there will be about 2 cups)
1 cup very thinly sliced bell pepper (seeded and white membrane removed) (used ½ red and ½ yellow)
1 cup thinly sliced fennel
2 teaspoons salt
For the batter
Dry ingredients:
1 cup white flour or gluten-free flour
1 cup fine cornmeal
1 cup grated parmesan or Romano cheese
1 ½ teaspoons Melissa’s Tuscan-Style Seasoning
Wet ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
1 egg
½ cup reserved vegetable water*
Preparation
Prepping the vegetables takes the most time so start there. The sliced vegetables will then need to soak up added salt and then release water which takes about two hours so prep them first. Trim ends of zucchini and slice them thinly with a mandolin for uniformity. The slices should be barely an 1/8 inch thick. Put zucchini slices in a large mixing bowl. Add the other remaining vegetables, measuring them as you add to the bowl. There should be a total of about 10 cups thinly sliced raw vegetables.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet over a half sheet pan (approximately 18 x 13 x 1 inches). Lightly drizzle with olive oil.
Add the veggie/batter mixture to the prepared pan. Using your hands, spread to cover the bottom. Place plastic wrap over the mixture and use a rolling pan or your hands to pat the mixture down firmly. You want it to stick together but you do not want to mash the vegetables. It will be about ½ inch thick.
*If you forgot to reserve the drained vegetable water, it is ok to substitute plain water.
