The “Spaghetti alla Nerano” is an excellent example of a simple but exquisite vegetable pasta recipe. It comes from Campania and includes ingredients typical of Neapolitan cuisine.

This pasta dish is an example of how little Italian towns can have their own specialties.

Spaghetti alla Nerano” was invented in the fifties by a woman called Maria Grazia in her restaurant, the dish is named after the beach town where it was invented, Nerano, a small town on the Sorrento peninsula. Apparently, the restaurant still exists and is being run by her grandchildren!

A simply wonderful dish created with so few ingredients, the secret is really in the quality of those ingredients and the technique used to make the creamy sauce that covers every strand of spaghetti.

The main ingredients:

The zucchini are the Italian kind, very small, sweet, green in color.

The cheese should be Provolone del Monaco, a large, semi-aged, five-pound melon-shaped cheese. It’s hard to find outside of the region, so Parmesan or caciocavallo could stand in.

Provolone del Monaco, “Monk’s Provolone” is a local cheese from the Sorrento peninsula. It’s incredibly expensive, but really tasty.

Provolone, like mozzarella, is a “pasta filata,” or stretched curd, cheese. Unlike mozzarella, provolone is then hung up to age.

It’s great how the provolone brings an otherwise bland vegetable, like zucchini to life!

Of course the choice of ingredients is the key. For the zucchini, it’s very hard to find the more green colored, striated variety; I try to find some earlier at a local farmers market or, I look for younger (smaller) zucchini, they have much better flavor and texture than the larger zucchini.

The secret of the goodness of this spaghetti is in its amazing and appetizing creamy texture and the unique taste of the provolone cheese.

If you cannot find it, you can mix 70 % Pecorino and 30 % Parmigiano.

Thinly slice the zucchini. Fry the pieces in plenty of hot oil, a few slices at a time. They’re done as soon as they turn a golden shade. Drain them on a paper towel as they are ready.

Cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water, when the pasta is very “al dente,” drain it, but not completely, setting aside two ladleful of the cooking water.

Sauté the garlic clove in a pan with a bit of oil. Remove the garlic and add the zucchini, spaghetti, 1 ladleful of the cooking water.

Finish cooking the pasta over low heat, adding the second ladleful of water gradually along with the remaining provolone, mixing until it forms a creamy sauce.

Serve immediately with a generous amount of freshly ground pepper and with fresh basil.

It’s incredibly economical. But absolutely delicious. The most expensive thing on the plate is the Provolone.

Thinly slice the zucchini. Fry the pieces in plenty of hot oil, a few slices at a time, until they are lightly browned. Proceed in batches if your skillet isn’t large enough to hold all the slices in a single layer. As they are done, lay the fried zucchini slices on paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil, salt well, and throw in the spaghetti. Cook until very al dente.

While the spaghetti are cooking, in a large skillet, sauté the garlic lightly in olive oil. Remove the garlic.

When the pasta is done, drain it, but not too well. Add the zucchini rounds and then then pasta to the skillet and a ladleful of pasta water.  

Reserve some of the zucchini for garnish. Mix everything together vigorously. If the zucchini rounds are starting to break up, it’s normal. Then add the grated cheese and some more basil leaves, and continue mixing until the cheese has completed melted into a creamy sauce, adding more pasta water if needed to keep things flowing smoothly.

Serve your spaghetti right away, topped with the remaining zucchini slices for garnish,  with a basil leaf or two.

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