June 24 – June 30, 2024

Monday:                      Cape Cod Chopped Salad with Tomato-Cheddar Toasts

Tuesday:                      Turkey Burgers with Grilled Vegetables and Watermelon Salad

Wednesday:                Spaghetti alla Nerano

Thursday:                    Gazpacho with Prosciutto/Provalone Bruschetta

Friday:                         Skillet Shrimp and Sweet Corn Pilaf

Saturday:                     Pineapple-Bacon Pizza

Sunday:                        Delmonico and Strip Steaks, Sautéed Corn, Watermelon-

                                    Cucumber Salad.  Starters:  Tomato-Cheddar Toasts, Union

                                    Square Bar Nuts

On Beyond Ratatouille

I come today not to speak of the healthful traits of zucchini, but to speak of how delicious this seemingly bland vegetable can be – apologies to Marc Antony.

Actually, zucchini is, technically, a fruit.  In fact, it is a berry, the swollen ovary of the zucchini flower.  But we treat it as a vegetable because it tastes vegetal, and about swollen ovaries, the less said the better.

As a simple side dish, try sautéeing zucchini discs in olive oil until they get a bit browned.  A little salt and dried oregano or Italian seasoning is all you need to add.  Or add raw zucchini discs, or those sautéed discs to any dip or antipasto platter.  Or grill zucchini halves or quarters to accompany steak or burgers.

But, after the wonderful meaty savor of ratatouille, the best use of this excellent fruit/vegetable that I know is to pair it with pasta.  You may think that zucchini is too delicate to toss with pasta and cheese, but you would be wrong.  Zucchini adds an unctuousness to pasta without the tartness or acidity which tomato sauce brings.  And a lightness that alfredo sauce cannot achieve.  And, although I love a good cacio e peppe, the recipe below is more cravable.  And craving is what I want from the family and friends I feed.  I don’t mind putting this burden on family and friends – I’m looking for wild enthusiasm when I cook for you.  Something just short of “let’s storm the bastille,” but far north of “that was a nice dinner.”

This is a short post, not because we are in transit from a July 4^th celebration, but because I don’t know what else to say about zucchini and I really love this recipe and want to get it out to you as soon as possible.  My concern for fellow home cooks is infinite.   You’re welcome.

By the way, if you’ve ever grown zucchini, the number of zucchini you get from one vine will also seem infinite.  So having another recipe for this squash up your sleeve will help.

Spaghetti alla Nerano

(adapted from Food & Wine, July 2024 – Nerano is a town on the Amalfi Coast)

Timing:                                                                 

   Allow one hour – if you cook pasta while zucchini is finishing, you can cook this in 45 minutes.

Ingredients:                                                     Serves 4

3 ½ lbs. zucchini, trimmed and cut into ¼-inch coins – about 10 cups

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil divided – more oil as needed

1 lb. spaghetti

4 or 5 tablespoons butter

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced – we grated maybe ½ clove

2 oz.  caciocavallo cheese, provolone picante, or Fontina, shredded (about 1 cup) – we used Fontina

2 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1 oz. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (1/4 cup) plus more for serving

¼ cup thinly sliced basil – plus small leaves for garnish

Prep:

Preheat oven to broil with a rack 5 inches from the heat.

Trim and cut the zucchini

Assemble other ingredients

Fill a large pot with water and put on the stove to heat

Toss the zucchini and 5 tablespoons of oil in a bowl with ½ teaspoon of salt.  Arrange zucchini in a single layer on large rimmed baking sheets – a little overlap is okay, this is a lot of zucchini.

Cook:

Broil zucchini, one pan at a time about 7 ½ minutes, flipping halfway through.  (Keep an eye on the zucchini, you don’t want to char or shrivel it too much.)

Meanwhile, bring that pot of salted water to a boil and cook spaghetti for 1 minute less than package instructions for al dente (you’ll be finishing it with the zucchini sauce).  Reserve 2 ½ cups pasta water and drain the pasta and set aside.

Now, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium.  Set aside about ½ cup zucchini coins for garnish and add the rest to the skillet and cook, stirring from time to time until zucchini is softened and some pieces begin to break apart – maybe 2 minutes.  (Add more oil as needed.)  Now add the butter, the garlic (if using), the remaining salt and cook, stirring often for about 3 minutes – the zucchini will turn a light golden color.

At this point, add ½ cup reserved pasta water to the skillet and cook over medium, stirring constantly until the liquid is mostly gone – about 1 minute.  Add the spaghetti and another ½ cup or more of the pasta water and cook, turning the spaghetti constantly with tongs until well coated with the zucchini mixture.

Remove from the heat, add the grated caciocavallao, provolone or fontina as well as the Parmigiano, the sliced basil and another ½ cup of pasta water (more as needed) and stir constantly until the sauce thickens and the pasta is evenly coated.  You can thin it with more pasta water as you like.

Garnish the pasta with the reserved zucchini and more grated Parmigiano and the reserved basil leaves and serve.