SPAGHETTI ALLA NERANO  or SPAGHETTI CON ZUCCHINE SCOTTATE

The Ingredients:

Approximately 300gr of pasta –  traditionally Spaghetti  or Fettuccine are being used  but any other pasta of your liking will work too

1pc of small zucchini (sliced into approximately  5mm)

1 knob of butter

3 or 4 tbs of olive oil – ideally extra virgin olive oil

4 or 5 pcs of  basil

2 cloves of garlic – finely sliced

1 clove of garlic – finely chopped

Provolone Del Monaco cheese – I substitute this with Parmigiano Reggiano as I couldn’t get Provolone Del Monaco

The Zucchini

• in a large cooking pan, heat oil, grill the  sliced zuchini on  both sides until nice and golden brown, sprinkle with salt, set aside
• in the same pan add butter and olive oil, saute  garlic until translucent, add boiled pasta and lastly add the grilled zuchini, toss it over and if find it too dry you can add some pasta water, add a few chops of basil for flavour.  You can add your cheese at this stage or  just for the topping or both.

The Pasta

• in a large pot of  boiling water add the pasta , add approximately  a pinch of salt to the pasta water.  There is an old saying in Italy that the water you use to boil the pasta has to be as salty as the Mediteranean sea, but being health conscious that I am now  I would just use as much salt as   I think is  sufficient  in my pasta water remember you can always add seasoning later on but you can never take it back once you put too much , boil the pasta until al dente or just a minute before al-dente, you can  improve the texture duing final  stage of cooking. Al dente literally means To the tooth, it should be soft enough to eat but still firm to bite.   Once you reach the level of your liking, drain the pasta but reserve  some  of the pasta water

The Finishing stage:

• in the same pan  you seared the zuchini earlier, add butter and olive oil, saute  garlic until translucent, add boiled pasta and lastly add the grilled zuchini, toss it over and if find it too dry you can add some pasta water which you have reserved earlier,  add a few chops of basil for flavour.  You can add your cheese at this stage or  just for the topping or both.  And finally Ecco Qua, Buon Mangiare!!!