The Secrets of Stanley Tucci’s Zucchini/Courgette Spaghetti or what makes Spaghetti alla Nerano so great.
You don't have to live on the beautiful Amalfi coast to make this unfussy primo dish, you can make it in Britain and pretend your vista has an azure sea decorated with bobbing superyachts. In Nerano where this dish was invented, on the Sorrento Coast apparently, the restaurants change their menu's prices according to the length of your ship. Stanley Tucci in the series 'Searching for Italy', complains that when making this dish at home it never turns out as good as when he has it at 'Lo Scoglio da Tommaso'. On the tellybox Tucci asks for a masterclass.
Can a courgette star on a plate?
What is the secret!
Well there are only four ingredients, spaghetti, courgette, basil and cheese, excluding garlic and water. Some Nerano restaurants add a blob of butter for more decadence, some brown the courgette a little more, some have more courgette to basil ratio others a little more basil to courgette.
Method, or what makes Spaghetti alla Nerano so great.
Put some spaghetti on to boil in salted water, aim for al dente and to be ready at the point the courgettes are. This dish can be made in ten mins. Also don't throw away the pasta water when you fish the spaghetti out.
Shallow fry thinly cut courgettes, think just a little thicker than a 2 pence piece, till they get a little colour, drain oil on kitchen roll.
Then in a little oil add a clove of garlic and fry gently in a little oil for a couple of minutes, don't brown it, discard.
Add your spaghetti to the pan and some of the courgettes, a small knob of butter (if using) add half a mug of the pasta water and take your pan off the heat for a minute or two.
One of the secrets of Italian cooking, never mind Stanley Tucci, is that your pan needs to cool a little before you add the cheese. This rule applies to Cacio en Pepe, any veg and pasta, and when adding the eggs and cheese to finish a Carbonara, in fact any dish that the cheese is added to pasta water. You then treat the pan as if it's a wok, shake the pan, toss it like it's a stir fry and hope that your cheese emulsifies into the liquid, rather than sticking to the base of the pan and sticks to the pasta instead, add more liquid if required, it may make a slight slopping sound when tossed.
Add several tablespoons of grated Parmesan, shake the pan, add the remaining courgettes, keep shaking, add basil, mix and serve with more Parmesan.
The Secrets of Stanley Tucci’s Zucchini/Courgette Spaghetti? Really, I don't think there are any.
But I'll go to Nerano on your behalf to find out.