Nerano pasta with zucchini and provolone

Calamarata pasta and zucchini cheese

nerano pasta with zucchini and provolone

The calamarata alla nerano is a simple and tasty dish and above all a super fast recipe, in fact, they need a maximum of 60 minutes to wait to be able to taste an almost intoxicating delicacy, in fact, the scent of fried zucchini, spiced with freshly ground black pepper and creaminess of the provolone del monaco, thickening to the dough, forming a combination that overwhelms both the palate and the nose.

The original recipe for pasta alla Nerano includes spaghetti but, I prefer homemade short pasta, for some reasons that I consider fundamental: First of all, once melted the cheese tends to harden quickly, leaving the spaghetti “perfect”, as they say in Salerno and, for this type of pasta I prefer a sauce or a slippery sauce, while the cooking water of the homemade pasta, being richer in gluten, favors the consistency of the cream and makes the pasta more full-bodied. Of course these are points of view and everyone is free to make their own choices, the fact is that it is an excellent main course and is suitable for all palates.

The recipe emerges in Neapolitan gastronomy, about seventy years ago exactly in Nerano, from which it takes its name, a small maritime hamlet of Massa Lubrense, which overlooks the Amalfi Coast, located right in front of the island of Capri. As some say, the recipe for spaghetti alla Nerano was born in the Maria Grazia restaurant, in the 50s of the twentieth century, on the occasion of the visit of Francesco Caravita, called “Pupetto”, a Neapolitan nobleman and emperor of Capri. The recipe was very popular and quickly spread throughout the Neapolitan province.