Nerano Pasta
I first learnt about this pasta from Stanley Tucci.
Which, honestly, feels like a very reasonable way to learn about a pasta.
Spaghetti alla Nerano originally comes from Nerano, a small village on the Amalfi Coast. It is one of those dishes that sounds almost too simple on paper — spaghetti, zucchini, oil, cheese, pasta water — but somehow turns into something much bigger than the sum of its parts.
The traditional version uses fried zucchini and Provolone del Monaco, a cheese from the Sorrento Peninsula that melts beautifully into the pasta. I didn’t have that, so I used parmesan. Not exactly the same, but still very, very good.
What makes this dish special is the zucchini.
You’re not just cooking it till soft. You’re frying it till it turns golden, blistered, and almost sweet. It gets this charred zucchini flavour that I personally love — slightly caramelised, slightly nutty, and much deeper than you expect from such a simple vegetable.
This is not a heavy pasta. It’s not rich in the way a cream sauce is. It’s light, glossy, salty, lemony, and full of that sweet fried zucchini flavour. The kind of dish that makes you realise vegetables don’t need much — they just need a little patience.
Ingredients
200 g spaghetti
Salt, for boiling water
2 medium zucchini
3–4 tbsp olive oil, plus more if needed
1 whole garlic clove
½ tsp chilli flakes
½ tsp oregano
¼ to ½ cup pasta water, as needed
Zest of ½ lemon
½ cup parmesan, freshly grated or shaved
Salt, to taste
Method
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
Cook the spaghetti till al dente. Reserve at least ½ cup of pasta water before draining.
While the pasta cooks, slice the zucchini into rounds about 0.5 cm thick. You don’t want them too thin, because they’ll burn quickly. You don’t want them too thick either, because they’ll take too long to cook.
In a large pan, heat olive oil with one whole clove of garlic. Let the garlic gently flavour the oil.
Add the zucchini slices and shallow fry them till golden, browned, and blistered. This is the most time-consuming part, so keep an eye on them. You want colour, not burnt edges.
Once done, remove the zucchini from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, add a little more olive oil if needed.
Add chilli flakes and oregano, then add the cooked spaghetti.
Add a splash of pasta water and toss everything together till glossy.
Add the lemon zest, fried zucchini, and parmesan.
Toss gently until the cheese starts to melt into the pasta and the zucchini is evenly mixed through.
Taste and adjust salt if needed.
Serve immediately with more parmesan on top.
