Spaghetti alla Nerano with Fried Zucchini and Provolone

Cooking the pasta

1. The zucchini for spaghetti alla Nerano fry quickly, so start by cooking the pasta.

2. Boil the spaghetti until al dente. Bring 2 l of water to a boil in a pot over high heat and salt it: 10 g of salt, which is 5 g per 1 l of water, because the cheese in the sauce is salty. Dried spaghetti usually cooks in 6-8 mins, with the time given on the package. Be sure to set aside 1-2 ladles of the pasta cooking water, as you’ll need it for the sauce.

   

Frying the zucchini

1. It’s best to use dark green, slim zucchini, which have a firmer texture.

2. Slice the zucchini: wash them thoroughly, dry them well and slice them thinly into rounds. A slicer works great, and the slices should be literally a couple of millimeters thick, almost transparent.

3. Fry the zucchini rounds on both sides until they start to darken. You can deep-fry the zucchini, or use an ordinary frying pan: heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Since the slices are thin, they fry in just a few minutes.

   

   Place the fried zucchini on a paper towel or kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil. Fry all the prepared zucchini this way.

4. Mix the zucchini with basil: pull the leaves off half of the basil sprigs, tear them roughly with your fingers and mix with the fried zucchini.

   

Making the sauce

1. Build the sauce in the pan. Pour in the remaining olive oil (1 tbsp) and fry the crushed garlic cloves in it over medium heat until golden, then discard them. Add all the fried zucchini with the basil leaves to the pan. Season with ground black pepper, but don’t add salt yet, as the pasta cooking water is already salty. Grate the provolone. I bought it already grated, so I simply added it to the fried zucchini. Pour a full ladle of the pasta cooking water into the pan.

   

2. Heat the sauce over low heat, stirring, for 2-3 mins: the cheese melts well and blends with the liquid, and it should dissolve completely. If needed, add more liquid or cheese so the sauce turns creamy and glossy. Add extra salt to taste at the very end.

   

3. Toss the pasta with the sauce. Transfer the al dente spaghetti to the sauce in small portions, tossing each time. Add a little liquid if needed. When all the spaghetti is coated with sauce, add the grated Parmesan and all the remaining basil leaves, torn into pieces beforehand.

   If you’re making a small amount of spaghetti alla Nerano, you can make the sauce thicker, toss all the pasta with it, and only then loosen the dish with the liquid. Important: don’t let the pasta get too dry, keep it juicier.

   

Serving

1. Serve the spaghetti right away, as soon as it’s ready. This dish isn’t meant to be stored or reheated. If you like, sprinkle the pasta with extra cheese, provolone or Parmesan, and add some pepper and more basil leaves before serving.

   

   You can use zucchini and cheese in practically any amount in this dish, and you don’t have to follow the proportions, it’s all up to your taste. Even two large zucchini don’t stand out much in the finished dish, and pasta with cheese is always delicious.