Scarpaccia Italian Zucchini Tart

Scarpaccia is an Italian Zucchini Tart that uses simple ingredients like fresh vegetables and herbs, some pantry staples, and Parmesan cheese. Using up all that bounteous harvest of garden zucchini has never been easier or tastier.

Still have extra zucchini you need to use up? Try our Parmesan Zucchini Chips and Beef Teriyaki with Zucchini.

What is scarpaccia?

If we’re going to be technical, scarpaccia means bad shoe in Italian. However, this rustic Tuscan dish is anything but an old shoe. Thinly sliced zucchini and onions is tossed with fresh herbs, some dry goods, and everyone’s favorite Parmesan cheese and baked golden brown.

Once baked, you should have a delicious and nutritious dish that has a crispy crust and is tender on the inside. Zucchini scarpaccia can be served as an appetizer, side dish to another meal like any of your favorite pasta dishes, or even as a light main course.

Recipe ingredients:

• Zucchini —we used two slightly larger-than-the-average-grocery-size of zucchini in this recipe. We had roughly 6 loosely packed cups of thinly sliced zucchini.
• Onion — using a red onion provides a pop of color in this dish, but a sweet yellow onion could be used as well.
• Bell pepper — for the same reasons as the onion choice, we used a red bell pepper. Before dicing the pepper, we sliced 5 rings as a decorative top to the dish, but it is not a necessary step.
• Dry goods — all purpose flour and cornmeal combined are base of the batter.
• Seasonings and herbs — just the basics are needed like salt, pepper, and granulated garlic (or garlic powder) along with fresh basil and rosemary.
• Parmesan cheese — because why not.
• Liquids — water for making the batter and olive oil for brushing the top of the tart right before baking.

How to make Scarpaccia Italian Zucchini Tart

Step 1 — Slice the zucchini and onion in very thin slices. This is best achieved with a mandolin slicer. Place them in a large bowl, sprinkle with a little bit of salt, and mix.

How to remove moisture from zucchini?

We want to get as much water as possible out before making this recipe (or many other zucchini recipes.) There are numerous ways to do this, all depending on how much time you have.

• Place them either in a bowl or a colander inside a bowl and cover. Leave it overnight in the refrigerator will yield the most released water.
• Place in a large bowl then cover with another bowl that can be weighted, causing compression of the zucchini (and onions.) At least 45 minutes is needed but we recommend at least two hours. This compression method can also be used in conjunction with the colander in a bowl method mentioned above.
• Once sliced, leave on a cooling rack placed in a baking sheet (to catch the water or you’ll have a mess all over). This method can be done on the counter top for an hour or two, flipping them over at least once or overnight in the refrigerator.

Step 2 — After selecting one of the methods above, before using the zucchini, place into a clean, thin kitchen towel (like a flour sack towel) or into cheesecloth and WRING it, squeezing out as much water as you can. And then squeeze again, and again, and again, until you can no longer squeeze. Ok, maybe not that much, but you get the point. If desired, reserve the released water replacing water in the recipe.

Step 3 — Preheat oven to 400°F. Add the flour, cornmeal, salt, pepper, granulated garlic, basil, rosemary, and Parmesan cheese into another large bowl. Mix it all together.

Step 4 — Slowly add the water to the dry ingredients to make the batter. You want it to be roughly the consistency of pancake batter. Adjust the amount of water (using a bit less or more than in the written recipe) to achieve right consistency.

Step 5 — If you’ve cut decorative bell pepper rings for the topping, quickly dredge them into the batter, removing any excess batter, and set them aside. By the handful, stir in the drained zucchini, onions, and bell pepper into the batter.

Step 6 — Line your cast iron with parchment paper (this makes for easy removal for serving.) Pour in the battered zucchini, pressing it firmly down and smoothing it across the top. Place the reserved bell pepper rings on top. Brush the entire top with the olive oil. Place it in the oven, UNCOVERED, and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top begins to brown.

Adaptations and variations to making Scarpaccia Italian Zucchini Tart

Vegetables — Tomatoes (fresh or sun-dried,) summer squash, asparagus (trimmed, sliced, and halved), mushrooms, carrots, different types of peppers, eggplant, and so on. Use zucchini flowers dredged in the batter as a decorative topping instead of the bell pepper rings.

Cheese — Swap out the Parmesan. Using Asiago, Manchego, Pecarino Romano, or feta would all be wonderful. A dryer cheese is best if you want a crisper scarpaccia.

Vegan — Use nutritional yeast or soy Parmesan.

Pan — We’ve made this in a 3.6 quart Dutch oven, however you can make this in a 12″ skillet as well. A 9×13 baking pan will also work. For a crisper texture all the way through the dish, use a cast iron baking sheet (or a regular one). The thinner the layer of mixture, the crisper the dish will be.

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