L'Italo-Americano

LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano zucchini properly. As for any frying, you need to keep the heat fairly high and space the zucchini rounds to avoid greasiness. On the other hand, avoid browning the zucchini too much, as they can turn bit- ter. Choosing your ingre- dients Of course the choice of ingredients is key. For the zucchini, try to find, if you can, the more lightly col- ored, striated variety known as zucchine romanesche. They are a rarity here in the US, but I did manage to find some at a local farmers market. Failing that, look for younger (hence smaller) zucchini with lighter skins. I find they have much bet- ter flavor and texture than the larger, darker zucchini. P r o v o l o n e d e l Monaco Besides the zucchini, the star of spaghetti alla Nerano is the cheese. The classic choice in contempo- rary recipes is provolone d e l m o n a c o, a DOP cheese from the Sorrento peninsula. Provolone, like mozzarella, is a pasta fila- t a , or stretched curd, cheese. Once the curd is separated from the whey, it is mixed and kneaded in hot water until it reaches a soft, elastic, stringy texture. Unlike mozzarella, provolone is then hung up to age. The longer the cheese is aged, the harder its texture and the sharper its flavor. Provolone dolce is relatively young, aged 2-3 months, and still quite mild in flavor, while provolone piccante is aged over four months and quite sharp in taste. Provolone del monaco, or "Monk's Provolone" is one of only two types of provolone to enjoy DOP status, along with provolo- ne valpadano, produced in the Po Valley in norther Italy. The milk comes from local Agerolese cows, which is said to give it its unique flavor. It is aged at least 180 days. Unfortunately, as far as I know, provolone del mona- co is not available in the US, so an ordinary provolone will have to do for us Stateside cooks. Do avoid, if you can, the pre- sliced sandwich cheese sold in many stores here—dis- honestly—as "provolone;" it is more or less tasteless. If you can't find proper pro- volone, caciocavallo is a similar cheese (and indeed it figures in some recipes for spaghetti alla Nerano), but can be equally hard to find. A more easily found substitute would be pecori- no Romano—in which case the dish really would be rather like a cacio e pepe with zucchini—or perhaps a mixture of pecorino and parmigiano. History Unlike so many other famous recipes, spaghetti alla Nerano has a very pre- cise origin. It was invented by a local restaurateur named Maria Grazia and served at her eponymous beachside restaurant, where you can still enjoy her pasta dish today. According to the restau- rant's website, she invented the dish "just for fun" in 1952. Her precise original recipe remains a house secret. Indeed, there is talk about a "secret ingredient" that makes her version unique. But that hasn't stopped the dish from becoming a favorite of restaurateurs and home cooks alike. Variations Spaghetti is the classic pasta used for this recipe, but I imagine other long pastas like linguine will work well. I have seen recipes for this dish made with short pasta shapes, but the consensus seems to be that this is heresy. In one interesting varia- tion on this dish, Luciano Pignotaro recommends blanching the fried zucchini rounds briefly, then purée- ing a portion of them. The purée is then simmered in the garlic-seasoned olive oil in the skillet to create a kind of base sauce, to which the rest of the zucchini and pasta is then added. It sounds nice, adding extra depth of flavor and another layer of texture. But when I actually tried it out, I found the result rather ponder- ous. The order in which you add ingredients for the final mantecatura of the pasta can vary, too: in some recipes, you add the cheese first, mix it with the pasta, then add the zucchini only at the very end, so they don't break up. And then there's butter: a few recipes for spaghetti alla Nerano, like some recipes for cacio e pepe, call for adding a knob of butter at the final mante- c a t u r a stage for added creaminess. And as for cacio e pepe, others (like Pignotaro) disapprove. But in this case, there are some strong indications that but- ter was part of the original dish. T w o R e c i p e s f r o m Francesconi In her La Cucina Napoletana, Jeanne Caròla Francesconi offers up two alternative recipes for spaghetti alla Nerano. One, which she got from a cer- tain Giulia de Luca di Roseto Abetino, calls for layering the fried zucchini rounds in a bowl with a mixture of parmesan and provolone dolce, minced basil, knobs of butter, and salt and pepper. When the pasta is cooked, it is mixed in a pan over low heat with the zucchini. She says to add a bit of the oil in which the zucchini has been fried, rather than the pasta water, if needed. This first recipe, Francesconi says, is an obvious imitation. But she offers a second recipe, passed on to her by artist Paul Thorel, which Thorel claimed was Maria Grazia's original "secret" recipe. It calls for slicing the zucchini the day before or "early in the morning" and lightly frying the zucchini rounds in butter (with a bit of oil to prevent burning) before transferring them to a large bowl without draining them too much, so they stay rather oily. The spaghetti are then cooked and trans- ferred to another bowl and tossed together with more butter (!), parmesan cheese, basil, salt, pepper (or a piece of hot pepper) and, if you like, a few mint leaves. To finish, place a third of the fried zucchini in a large pan, wet with a few spoon- fuls of boiling water, add the spaghetti mixed with another third of the zucchi- ni, then the remaining zuc- chini are laid on top. Pour in the butter in which the zucchini have been fried, then mix everything togeth- er over very gentle heat for a minute before serving. It's fascinating how very different both of these recipes are from the ver- sions that predominate today. Both call for butter and neither calls for provo- lone del monaco. The pur- ported original recipe does- n't even call for provolone at all. Perhaps the dish has evolved over time, or per- haps these are just imagi- nary variations. I suppose only Maria Grazia knows for sure… Spaghetti alla Nerano's main ingredients are zucchini and provolone cheese (Photo: Dreamstime) Continued from page 26

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