A Dish Straight from Siciliy
Today my friend Jessica Randazza comes by to hang out and share a recipe that her grandparents brought over with them from Sicily. Jessica currently serves as an account executive and social media manager for a food public relations agency in Seattle. Because she grew up as the daughter of an executive chef and in an Italian family, she uses food as a way to bring friends and family together. When she’s not hanging out in the kitchen, she can be found tweeting or sharing her thoughts on the communications on her blog.
For years it has been a tradition to return home to Birmingham, Ala. each Labor Day weekend and while the trek home is
primarily to see my friends and family, the time that I spend with them is always centered around food.
The list of out-of-this-world cuisine that my hometown could easily consist of 100 items, but unless I’m feeling overly ambitious, I never have a chance to savor them all.
That said, there are two things that I ALWAYS make time for — southern food and my family’s favorite, “basta with the gusta”.
Southern food can mean a lot of things, and it actually doesn’t matter what it is. I’m satisfied with cornbread, sweet tea, mashed potatoes, fried pickles, mac and cheese…really anything. And since I didn’t go home this year, I threw a birthday (which also happens to fall around Labor Day) celebration for myself centered around all southern cuisine. But the basta was still missing.
Now I’ll be honest, I have no idea what “gusta” means or if I’m even pronouncing it properly. But its based on a Sicilian peasant dish my grandparents brought over from Italy, and it’s a Randazza classic.
My friend, Carson, has heard me rant and rave about the dish for years. Being the incredible friend she is, she knew I’d want it for my birthday and called up my mom and asked for the recipe — surprisingly something I never thought to do. As it turns out, it’s REALLY easy.
Jessica’s “Basta with the Gusta” Recipe
Ingredients
Chopped medium yellow onion
2-3 zucchini cut into 1/4” circles
3 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
Parmesan cheese to taste
8 oz spaghetti or a noodle pasta cooked al dente
Olive oil
Preparation
In a large-ish frying pan, cook your onion with a splash of olive oil over medium heat until it starts to caramelize. Throw in 2/3 of the chopped zucchini with the onions. Cook until warm. Pour in the chicken stock, heat until warm.
In a separate pan, pour in olive oil to cook the remaining 1/3 chopped zucchini. When it begins to brown, sprinkle breadcrumbs and coat both sides (there should be enough oil in the pan to help the breadcrumbs stick). Pull off the heat and plate.
Pour chicken stock mixture over pasta and stir thoroughly and plate. Add breaded zucchini and Parmesan on top and mangiare!
A simple dish with an surprisingly exquisite flavor profile…and now I know I don’t have to wait to have a taste of home.
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