In my efforts to learn Italian and keep our menus fresh . . . I bought "Cucina Italiana - Preparate Dagli Chef Di Eataly" - A gorgeous Italian cookbook, written entirely in . . . Italian.
It probably comes in an English translation, but since I'm trying to learn the language, I thought it would be a good idea to translate the recipes.
- Mama Mia!!! Che Casino! (what a mess!)
"Torta di Pasta Brisee con Granola di Verdure" — It looked so pretty and seemed easy enough. I was able to translate most of the recipe. It consisted of vegetables sliced flat and wrapped round-and-round inside a dough casing. Ahhh . . . the "dough." It was called "pasta" in the recipe, but included butter, which made it more of a pie crust. Or was it?
Unfortunately, I didn't understand that pasta/crust detail or measurements until it was too late.
The pasta/dough/cardboard box turned out too "cakey" too "rough" too — blah. I should have trimmed it and shouldn't have tried to be healthy with whole wheat flour. There's a time and place for health, and this wasn't it. It looked terrible. The inside vegetables tasted good, but the outside was dismal. Seriously, Amazon could deliver packages in this thing.
This time, I used a pie crust (feel free to judge, it was store bought — I was plum wore-out by this point). I sliced and blanched eggplant, carrots (different colors made it beautiful), zucchini, asparagus, onion and tomatoes. The sauce I poured over it was heavy whipping cream mixed with a couple of eggs, seasoned with salt and pepper, saffron threads and blended with grated paremesaean cheese. That's it!
Bake for 30 - 40 minutes at 356 degrees Fahrenheit - honestly, that's how 180 celsius translates.
So much better and each slice was beautiful. This isn't a recipe as much as it is a road map on how to assemble a vegetable torte - of sorts.
This is the rough translation I came up with. I added a few new things, like a sweet potato on the final go-round, since I had one on hand and thought it would look pretty (it did).
Adventurous cooking is balancing a writing project, so I'm bouncing back and forth between the computer and the stove these days.
"È una vita felice e deliziosa in questo momento". — It's a happy and delicious life right now.
Ok, wow, cooking from an Italian cookbook, I am very impressed! What a beautiful dish! I love your comment on the whole wheat version and amazon could use the crust as delivery boxes ? Good for you to keep trying until you got it right and I’m all for using prepared pie crust! Beautiful!
Don’t be impressed just yet. Remember, this was a second attempt. When I nail it the first time, then be dazzled!
David asked “why would she waste all that time and effort on vegetables?” Personally, I love them and this looks delicious.
haha! It really was good. As far as vegetables go!