Scarpaccia - and sad/happy memories

"thin and a bit crusty, just like an old shoe." Frank/Memorie di Angelina

That's how I feel a bit these days ... Well not quite thin enough in body anyway. But this is a story all about this delicious looking Tuscan speciality.

As always I start on one thing and wander here and there before ending up somewhere completely unexpected.

So to begin at the beginning - the picture above of Tom Hunt's version of Scarpaccia which instantly reminded me of another Italian zucchini and potato thing, that I shall come to. It appeared in the Kitchen Aide section of the Guardian Feast Newsletter - the column that tells how to waste not and want not. In this instance by using up a glut of zucchini and reusing the water that leaks from the sliced zucchini when salted and rested for a while.

In spite of him saying:

"Zucchini or courgettes are a type of summer squash that grows so prolifically that even the most amateur horticulturist, such as myself, is often inundated with a cash crop of long green gourds." -

this has never happened to me. I rely on others' gluts, or bargains in supermarkets and greengrocers. I nearly bought some Odd Bunch zucchini yesterday until my lovely husband commented that he wasn't sure he had ever eaten them and why would you!!! So I restrained myself even though I use them a lot, whilst silently admitting to myself that indeed they did not have an instantly memorable taste.

I had been redirected to Tom Hunt’s column, by Alice Zaslavsky who was addressing the hemisphere problem of pumpkin up there and zucchini down here, although as she rightly says:

"I can guess which vegetable is going to be on your supermarket shelf, no matter which side of the international date line you are on: pumpkin!"

Because it's Halloween today - so pumpkin everywhere. Maybe they will be cheaper next week when the supermarkets are left with the surplus from all those pumpkin lanterns. So even we could do as we suggests with reference to this Tom Hunt's recipe for:

"summer squash scarpaccia, a crunchy, gluten-free option for pizza lovers that harnesses the power of polenta, can be pumped up with thinly sliced pumpkin instead."

I remember the Tom Hunt version, and may even have featured it somewhere on this blog, but the thing it really brought to mind was Deb Perelman's Foccacia with zucchini and potatoes - also possibly featured before. Not the same base at all - this is a foccacia kind of base, albeit a crisper one in this version. And it's merely a topping rather than vegetables mixed into a batter, but gee they look very, very similar.

And in between the two - foccacia and scarpaccia - there's always a middle way is there not? - we have an Italian zucchini scarpaccia from Italian Food Forever, which, as you can see is rather thicker than a true scarpaccia. And now that I look at the recipe in more detail I see that it also departs from the original, in using plain flour, doesn't use the liquid from the zucchini and adds an egg, milk and vanilla essence. Which I guess just goes to show that it's all a matter of taste isn't it?

The writer of By Lena, however, begged to differ and went for the traditional Italian zucchini scarpaccia:

"We really like the fact that it's thin and crispy, with a somewhat sweet taste, thanks to the zucchini and the ripe onion. Initially, I was thinking to make if a little thicker next time, but after I tasted it, I decided I still prefer it thin. In terms of texture and taste, scarpaccia is very similar to zucchini pancakes, but a little crispier, much faster to prepare and without eggs."

Having established that scarpaccia was indeed an authentic and traditional Italian thing I then embarked on finding out more about it, so started with Rachel Roddy who always has something interesting to say about her dishes and, she had indeed made this particular regional speciality - La Scarpaccia Camaiorese. She began by pointing out that there are two fundamentally different versions:

"First, a sweet version, often called torta dolce di verdura, a sweet cake of vegetables made from equal quantities of flour and courgettes, along with basil, sugar and yeast. Then there is the savoury scarpaccia, typical of the province of Lucca (and in particular the town of Camaiore), for which thinly sliced courgettes and their flowers are baked for about an hour in a batter of egg, flour and cheese."

And here I was diverted again, because I recognised that name of Camaiore as somewhere we had stayed in Italy. So I scrolled through my photo libraries - being an ex cataloguer, I'm relatively well organised, so it didn't take too long. Which brought back a whole set of happy/sad memories. Camaiore is in Tuscany a little way inland from the seaside resort of Viareggio - which is the birthplace of the sweet version of scarpaccia. It was on our first trip to Italy, when my Italian was very rudimentary although I do remember having a sort of conversation with the oldish lady who lived next door to our villa and managed it for the owners. I remember her son was a policeman of whom she was very proud. But I waffle of course. The happy memories include the beauty of the villa and its surrounds - perched high above a valley with a distant (blurry) glimpse of the Mediterranean beyond, a visit to Florence where we saw the magnificent David by Donatello in a museum which was almost empty in complete contrast to the queues outside the Uffizi which circled at least one block of the city. Lucca was near - one of my favourite Italian towns and all done in the company of good friends - and David's sister. Wherein lies the sadness for Jenny has now long passed, and also our friend Malcolm - another guest - too - but much more recently from a hideous accident falling from a ladder. I have written about them both, but yes, the very mention of a village name and an Italian dish which we did not eat whilst there brought back so many memories. Food does that.:

But back to scarpaccia. In her article Rachel Roddy referenced an Instagram video by Alessandro Vitale and Iasmina P. - actually there are two - one presented by Alessandro alone - shown here with his finished very thin sheet of Scarpaccia which he then tore into pieces and ate. In the slightly more detailed video with his partner Iasmina they tear it up and then dip it into pesto before consuming. I suspect their version is the most authentic of them all and requires just zucchini, onions and zucchini flowers mixed into that batter that contains chickpea flour and polenta. And they use all of the liquid from the salted zucchini slices. No potatoes.

And on the salting of the zucchini, which we sometimes don't bother doing, another recipe provider - The Culinary Chase - says:

"Originally I did not salt the zucchini to release its juices.  Doing this made all the difference in the world.  The outside was crispy and the inside was soft."

I think he means, from the larger context of that statement, that salting it is the way to go.

Going back to Alessandro, he, as did others, said that it was first made as a way of using all those surplus zucchini growing in the local vegetable gardens - most origin stories seem to say the gardens belonged to retired sailors. The name means 'old shoe' because "è sottile e croccante come una suola!" - 'It's thin and crispy like a sole"

However, when I went looking for other versions I came across this other tale, a story that sounded almost factual:

"Another story has it that scarpaccia goes back to Castruccio Castracani, the consul of Lucca and lord of a castle nearby [in] the tiny village of Colognora. One day around the year 1300, short on victuals, he called on the local peasants for help. All he managed to coax out of them, though, were lots of surplus zucchini, some flour and a few eggs. With little alternative, Castracani ordered his cooks to just mix the peasants’ offerings together and cook them up. And so, they say, scarpaccia was born, made of poor and humble ingredients, just like an old shoe." Frank/Memorie di Angelina

And as he points out - you are right - there were no zucchini back in 1300, or pumpkin either - they came with the conquistadores from the New World, but there was Lagenaria siceraria, which the English called calabash, which could have been used.

And Frank of Memorie di Angelina was the one who presented the sweet version - Scarpaccia dolce viareggina (Sweet Zucchini Tart) - from Viareggio - an Italian seaside resort, that like many such did not impress us - virtually all of the beach was inaccessible to the public, and the town itself was pretty soulless. But I digress. In fact the recipe is very similar to the one from By Lena with the addition of some sugar, and a sprinkle of icing sugar on the top. Neither of them, however, used yeast, which Rachel Roddy seemed to think was a feature of the sweet version. I noticed that scarpaccia was often a feature of carnival days in Viareggio - which would suit a sweet version more than a savoury one. Sweeter - and also a little bit thicker. So maybe By Lena was just confused.

I might try it someday if I have a party coming up and lots of zucchini. Note to self - should go to Bunnings and buy some plants. Give it one more go.

Yesterday's NY offering - still very trendy and yet not inspiring - to me anyway - but then I'm not a fan of Japanese food. This one, however, does come from J. Kenji López-Alt of Serious Eats, so it's probably a good recipe of it's kind.

YEARS GONE BY

October 31 - Halloween

2024 - David's kitchen

2023 - Grey food

2022 - Nothing

2021 - Cookbooks have turned to home

2020 - Missing

2019 - Nothing

2018 - Ginger - I don't like it

2017 - Nothing

2016 - Crumpets