Life Changing Pasta and Stanley Tucci

 

 

If you have been asleep at 9 p.m. on Sunday nights you may have missed this great new original series by Stanley Tucci on CNN.  Here, he and his wife are on the Amalfi coast, eating what he described as "life-changing" pasta.  If you dream of Italy, or Italian foods, this is a great show.  He picks a specific region and focuses on the foods of that region, giving you a hint of the flavor there.  Those in the know in Italy have had criticisms about the restaurants he's chosen, or places he's visited, but Italy and its food are the stars here, and with this pandemic, and not being able to travel, I've nothing to complain about.  
So, I was intrigued by the pasta that was life-changing ---come on, when someone says that, you want to try it.  Let me just say that I've eaten some life-changing dishes in my time, but pasta is a food that I grew up with, eat regularly, and teach to students, so this had to be something special. 

Another caveat here, is that when an Italian gives you a recipe they tend to leave out one thing, either an ingredient, or a technique, and it's up to you to figure out why that dish doesn't taste the way it did when you first had it.  This dish is a simple pasta with deep-fried zucchini, a "knob" of butter, some cheese, and pasta.  In this episode, he accuses the sister of the chef for leaving out the butter when she shared the recipe.  Tradition has it, that the dish is from the small city of Nerano, originating at a restaurant in 1952 by a chef named Maria Grazia.  There was really no recipe for this when watching the show, so I decided to go rogue and figure this out.   Just FYI Stanley Tucci is coming out with a book, I'm not sure that there will be recipes from the show, but this is the pre-order page on Amazon.  

Life Changing Pasta All'Amalfitana

Serves 4

1/2 inch extra virgin olive oil (see note below)

1 garlic clove, sliced

2 cups thinly sliced zucchini (2 medium or 4 small)

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano (the show used aged Provolone, which can be hard to find)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup finely chopped basil

6 nests tagliatelle or 1/2-pound fettuccine cooked al dente, saving a bit of hot pasta water

salt and pepper

In a large skillet, heat 1/2-inch of extra virgin olive oil, add the garlic, and cook until the garlic is translucent, remove from the pan, add the zucchini, and fry until the zucchini is browned on both sides.  You may have to do this in batches, remove the browned zucchini to a pasta bowl, and continue to cook until all the zucchini is fried.  

Add 1/4 cup of cheese, the butter, and basil to the pasta bowl with the zucchini.

Add the hot pasta to the pasta bowl, and toss to coat, adding some of the pasta water to make a creamy sauce.  Season with salt and pepper, and serve garnished with the remaining cheese.  

I used Garafalo tagliatelle, but you could use fettuccine if you can't find tagliatelle which is sold in nests.

Deep frying isn't my favorite method, but this gave the zucchini an interesting flavor, and I added basil to this since I was afraid the zucchini was going to be too bland.  At the restaurant, they deep fry the zucchini, then refrigerate it overnight, then proceed----I don't have that kind of time, nor do I want to wait, so I just proceeded with the recipe.  

Bottom line:  Would I make this again? As Dr. C. said it is a nice change from the usual.  Was it life-changing?  No, but it's pretty darned good, and I think it's worth the effort.  Anyone that knows me knows that flavor is my big deal, and this is delicious, flavorful and different, so I highly recommend that you try it.  

 

I have a Woll brand non-stick skillet that I love, heats evenly 

Use really good extra virgin olive oil, none of that $2.00 stuff

toss and serve

I hope you'll try this pasta, and that you'll watch the show, it's a nice way to spend the end of the weekend.  At some point, we'll all get to travel again, and enjoy drinking in the sights, sounds and aromas of foreign lands.  As we crossed the one-year threshold, I still am thankful for time, for the people that I love, and for the vaccine that will help to rid our country of the virus.  Buon appetito!