Spaghetti alla Nerano

May 2

According to Wikipedia “Spaghetti alla Nerano” is an Italian dish (of course) which comes from the Sorrento Peninsula from the village of Nerano. The site “lacucinaitaliana.com” is pointing to Maria Grazia restaurant in Nerano too, and if you enter the restaurant site (it still exists by the way) you’ll find out that Dona Rosa, “the grandmother” invented this dish in 1952 and that “Despite various attempts to imitate it, the recipe remains jealously guarded and is passed down from generation to generation.” (Their original words :)) https://www.ristorantemariagrazia.com/en/cuisine) I don’t intend to copy or reinvent this famous recipe but till I’ll have the chance to visit the Maria Grazia restaurant I will give this recipe my own interpretation. Let’s give it a try.

The recipe

Finely slice the zucchini, sprinkle a dust of salt over, give them a drizzle of olive oil and grill them. I used a cast iron grill.

Grate the provolone cheese and keep it handy.

Boil the spaghetti in water with a pinch of salt till they are al dente, then drain them but keep about 150 ml of boiling water.

Blend half of the zucchini at low speed with half of the provolone cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of salt and 50-60 ml of spaghetti water.

In a pan add 1 table spoon of olive oil, one finely chopped garlic clove and 25-30 ml of pasta water and gently simmer them 5 minutes then add the spaghetti, the blended zucchini with provolone, the remaining grilled zucchini and the grated provolone. At this point you can add some finely chopped basil. Mix gently - you made it :). Enjoy !

INGREDIENTS - for 2 persons