ZUCCHINI PASTA
ZUCCHINI PASTA
Zucchini Pasta or Spaghetti alla Nerano is a dish that originated decades ago in the Italian town of Nerano. It consists simply of fried zucchini, spaghetti and provolone del Monaco, of which I substitute for the block of parmesan cheese I always have on hand. As Stanley Tucci proclaimed to the world back in 2022, it is a phenomenal dish. And as the rest of the internet proclaims, it will change your perspective on the zucchini, as any dish celebrating one ingredient tends to do. That being said, as zucchini is the star, this is a dish you make when you come across small, in season zucchini. Small zucchini have less water, more flavor, smaller seeds and tender skin. Once you've found the perfect gourds there's a little prep to do. Salting the zucchini allows them to expel their water and concentrate their nutty flavor. They're nutty! Who knew. Then, we deep fry them- no harm done there, add in the spaghetti, salty cheese, pepper flakes, garlic, lemon, .....chill the white wine, you're in for a treat! Followed by a nap.
PREP TIME: 30 minutes | COOK TIME: 15 minutes | SERVINGS: 1-2 servings
TIPS
- Use small zucchini for reasons stated above.
- Always be careful when frying, especially vegetables or anything (like frozen turkey) with a lot of moisture. The volume of steam bubbles will raise the level of oil in the pot. If you throw in too much zucchini at once, this could cause your pot to overflow-even more dangerous if you have a gas stove. For this reason, I deal the zucchini into the pot like cards and fry in batches.
- Using a neutral oil like canola, vegetable, peanut, or grape seed to fry zucchini works too.
INGREDIENTS
- 3 small Zucchini - red pepper flakes-large pinch
- spaghetti-150 grams - olive oil to fry the zucchini
- parmesan cheese (block) - freshly ground black pepper
- 1-2 garlic cloves - salt
- 1/2 lemon
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Slice zucchini on mandolin or with knife to get rounds about 1/2 an inch thick.
2. Liberally salt zucchini, very liberally, you're going to wash it off, and let it sit for a few minutes till you see a pool of water.
3. Rinse and thoroughly dry zucchini.
4. Carefully fry zucchini in batches, don't overcrowd your pot.
5. Once golden brown, remove zucchini from oil and lay on tray or plate lined with paper towel. Lightly salt and set aside. (Some of the initial salt, though washed off, will still flavor the zucchini.) Don't fret if all of your zucchini aren't the same level of golden brown. I think the variation, some slices being more gooey, some being more crisp, is really nice.
6. Drizzle some olive oil into your pan (you can use the same oil you fried the zucchini in, if you used olive oil), grate in garlic and add your pinch of chili flakes. Do this with the heat turned off. Set Aside.
8. Boil spaghetti in salted water.
9. When your pasta has about 3 minutes of cooking time left, turn on your pan with olive oil, garlic and chili. Simmer for a few seconds. We're just blooming these ingredients a bit, we don't want to brown the garlic.
10. Ladle some pasta water into your pan.
11. When your pasta has about 2 minutes left of cooking, transfer it to the pan, along with some fried zucchini and finish cooking your pasta in the pan with the zucchini. Leave some fried zucchini to place on top of your pasta once plated.
12. Toss, toss, toss or stir until your pasta is glistening and perfectly cooked. Ladle in fresh water when needed to avoid over salting your pasta with the salted pasta water.
13. Just as your sauce has thickened a bit from the pasta starch, and has started to cling to your pasta, but is still thinner then you would want your final product to be, turn off the heat, grate in parmesan cheese and mix that in. This will bring your dish to it's perfect consistency. Add freshly ground pepper and a squeeze of lemon. You can always keep a pot of fresh hot water on the side in case you need to loosen your dish up a bit and don't want to increase the salinity with pasta water.
14. Plate and enjoy.
ZUCCHINI PREP
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