I am in America for less then two months and already I am stressed! That calm, relaxed, European, Kait has been replaced by a frazzled, chaotic, and semi crazy one….personally I don’t blame it so much on the country, instead I blame it purely on school! It’s honestly as if all my professors think that I live to take their class, as if I enjoy spending all my free time flipping through books and reading, and writing papers, it’s exhausting! Most days I end up waking up at 3:00 a.m. to my cat who always seems to suddenly get a burst of energy at the worst possible times (of course I usually try my best to ignore her as I can barely begin to function this early in the morning) I then wake up for the second time at 6:30 a.m., I head to the pool by 7:15, swim for forty-five minutes, head to school, go to class, go to work, and then comehome and start doing my homework for the rest of the night! Now sure I know there are some college kids that do a lot more, they have two jobs, work forty hour work weeks, take a full load of classes, and still manage to have some free time to their selves, it’s obvious they must be robots! I know to most my schedule is typical of a college student, but after coming back from a semester where I rarely did homework and instead spent more time exploring and eating gelato …this is all beginning to feel a bit overwhelming! It seems as though the only reasonable option here is to quit school and head back to Italy..if only!
This is an authentic Italian recipe usually served during antipasto, as an appetizer. The first time I tried la crostata di zucchini was at Roberta’s home, it was delicious and very flavorful and it quickly became one of my favorite dishes in Italy. Lucky for me, this happened to be a staple recipe for Roberta, which meant she was always serving it at her many gatherings and dinner parties! Once I came home I decided I wanted to try this recipe for myself. I skyped Roberta to get the exact recipe, before trying it for myself. I was shocked to learn that Roberta put a bit of nutmeg in the crostata, typically in america, nutmeg is used only in desserts, but in italy it is never used in desserts but often can be found in many main dishes.
This recipe turned out great, even my mother (arguably one of the pickiest eaters and a non egg fan) enjoyed the crostata!
Recipe
Ingredients
3 zucchini chopped into bite size pieces
1 onion or leek finely chopped
olive oil
6 eggs
1/2 tsp of nut meg
1/2 cup of milk or non dairy substitute milk
4 scallions chopped
salt and pepper
1 pie crust
Method
1) Preheat oven to 350, roll out pie crust and press into a grease pie pan, let baked for 10 minutes until slightly golden brown, remove from oven and let sit
2) over low to medium heat, saute onions and zucchini, add in salt and pepper
3) In a large bowl beat together the six eggs, add in milk and continue, add in zucchini and onion, scallions, and nutmeg, pour into the pie crust and let bake for 20-25 minutes or until crostata is thoroughly cooked, let cool and serve warm!
Looks like another yummy one…how about asparagus?
Rachael Ray puts nutmeg in a lot of things that are green…spinach, broccoli, cabbages…I put a little in my stuffed cabbage…adds just a little something.