STANLEY TUCCI’S FAVORITE : SPAGHETTI ALLA NERANO
Spaghetti alla Nerano is a vegetarian recipe from Campania, for a very tasty first course, very similar to cacio e pepe, with the addition of zucchini, first fried by dipping in extra virgin olive oil (as the original recipe calls for), and then sautéed in a pan with oil and garlic.
The spaghetti only needs to be softened in boiling salted water, but the second half of the cooking is done in the pan, along with the zucchini and garlic, using the risotto technique (risottatura), adding a ladle of spaghetti cooking water as needed.
Risottatura allows the pasta to absorb the flavors of the sauce much better, and gives a much more bound pasta, both in texture and flavor.
In this dish, in addition to the risottatura, the perfect binding occurs with the subsequent mantecatura, which creates a creamy, mouthwatering film that coats the spaghetti and zucchini, amplifying the enjoyment.
Nerano is the name of a small town in Massa Lubrense (NA), where it is said that Prince Pupetto, a famous character of Campania’s 1950s nightlife, entered the Da Maria Grazia restaurant one evening, where he was a regular, but wanted to go to the kitchen to prepare a special spaghetti dish himself for his friends.The ingredients he found were the last zucchini picked from the summer garden, leftover local cheese and basil, and with these few ingredients he invented one of the most famous pasta recipes in the world.
The original recipe for Nerano calls for provolone del Monaco cheese, a Campania PDO produced in the Sorrento Peninsula-Monti Lattari area by Agerolese cows; the result is a semi-hard, stringy, aged cheese.
The name, so distinctive, probably comes from the fact that the Sorrentine cheesemakers, when they arrived at the market to sell their cheese, covered their heads with a sack hood to protect themselves from the cold: hence “del monaco,” because the cheesemakers looked like monks.
In this recipe it gives a quid more than Parmigiano, because it melts much more easily and spins, creating the dish’s characteristic creaminess.
SERVINGS:2
Ingredients:
- 7 oz of Spaghetti
- 2 medium zucchini
- 2/3 cup of provolone cheese
- 1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- basil to taste
- pepper to taste
- salt to taste
- a clove of garlic
- chili to taste
- all purpose flour to taste
- oil for frying
- extra virgin olive oil
VIDEO RECIPE:
DIRECTIONS:
Cut zucchini into rounds and flour them on a baking sheet.
Grate the provolone and Parmesan cheese and place in the refrigerator.
Pour oil into frying pan and once hot dip floured zucchini until golden brown completely.
Place the zucchini back on a plate provided with paper towels and set aside a couple of rounds.
In a frying pan add extra virgin olive oil, garlic and chili pepper.
Let the oil heat up and when it comes to temperature remove the garlic and chili.
Take the zucchini and lay them in the pan with the oil.
Add hot water and basil, cover with a lid and let cook on a low flame.
Cook the spaghetti in salted water, removing them 4 minutes before they are cooked, which you will finish in the pan (adding a little water at a time to create a fantastic cream).
As soon as the spaghetti is cooked, remove the pan from the heat and add the provolone and parmesan cheese.
If it proves difficult to cream the pasta, add a little cooking water.
Plate and…. enjoy!!!
Spaghetti Alla Nerano Recipe
Ingredients
- 7 oz of Spaghetti
- 2 medium zucchini
- 2/3 cup of provolone cheese
- 1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- basil to taste
- pepper to taste
- salt to taste
- a clove of garlic
- chili to taste
- all purpose flour to taste
- oil for frying
- extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Cut zucchini into rounds and flour them on a baking sheet.
- Grate the provolone and Parmesan cheese and place in the refrigerator.
- Pour oil into frying pan and once hot dip floured zucchini until golden brown completely.
- Place the zucchini back on a plate provided with paper towels and set aside a couple of rounds.
- In a frying pan add extra virgin olive oil, garlic and chili pepper.
- Let the oil heat up and when it comes to temperature remove the garlic and chili.
- Take the zucchini and lay them in the pan with the oil.
- Add hot water and basil, cover with a lid and let cook on a low flame.
- Cook the spaghetti in salted water, removing them 4 minutes before they are cooked, which you will finish in the pan (adding a little water at a time to create a fantastic cream).
- As soon as the spaghetti is cooked, remove the pan from the heat and add the provolone and parmesan cheese.
- If it proves difficult to cream the pasta, add a little cooking water.
- Plate and…. enjoy!!!
