Recipe(tried): Italian Vegetable Stew (Giambotta)

Elly, my Italian grandparents had a backyard garden when I was a kid and every year they had TONS of zucchini (or "gugatzel" as we called it in dialect - pron. gu-gat-zeel`). Nana always made Giambotta with it. It's a very easy recipe and it's delicious served over white rice, pasta or on it's own with a chunk of Italian bread. Buon' apetito amica!

ITALIAN VEGETABLE STEW (GIAMBOTTA)

2 white potatoes
2 zucchini
1 pound fresh green beans
4 large tomatoes
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 large onions
1/2 cup fresh basil - or 1 teaspoon dried
salt and pepper to taste
cooked white rice

Clean, skin and chop all the vegetables into uniform dice and snap the green beans in half if they're very long.

To skin the tomatoes, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Hold each tomato with a long meat fork and submerge into the boiling water. Hold in the water until the skin bursts, about 10 seconds. Remove from boiling water and place in ice water immediately. The skin should peel right off. Peel, chop and seed the tomatoes.

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil oven medium heat. Saute the onion and garlic together until soft. Add the tomatoes, raise heat and bring to a boil.

Stir in the diced potatoes and green beans and lower heat to a simmer. Cook covered, until vegetables are almost tender.

Add the zucchini at the end and simmer the vegetables a little longer until they are all soft.

Add the basil and season with salt and pepper.

Serve over cooked, white rice or as a side dish to accompany a meal.