Hello everyone, my name is Fabrizio Mellino we are at the restaurant 'Quattro Passi' in Nerano, in this wonderful bay of the Amalfi Coast. Today we will present you
an iconic dish that is very representative of summer: pasta alla Nerano in two different
versions: one is the traditional one with which I was
born and raised, the second is what we offer at the Quattro Passi restaurant. Quattro Passi restaurant is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It all started thanks
to my parents, Antonio Mellino
and Rita Vinaccia and now it is my brother and I who follow this beautiful family
tradition. Pasta alla Nerano is not a codified dish, therefore you will find many variations around the restaurants of the bay.
There's those who use eggs, some people use different shapes
of pasta, clearly there are those who use a mixture of
different cheeses to cream the pasta. Zucchini is a
key element of our territory and within
the micro climate that is created
here on the coast and the salt that blows from the sea - zucchini have a completely different
aroma and taste. The person who is most titled to tell the creation of Nerano in the Quattro Passi restaurant is clearly my father, Antonio Mellino. I'm giving him the floor. I wouldn't even think of a pasta with zucchini, oil and eggs. I want to tell you
about how pasta alla Nerano was born. It
was born from a family of nobles who came
to Nerano by boat from Capri. As they arrived
down at Marina del Cantone, there
were no restaurants. There were only two small taverns. This
nobleman goes to this trattoria down in Marina del Cantone and asks
if there was anything to eat and the lady tells him: "We only have some zucchini and cheese." And he said: "May I make spaghetti?" and thus spaghetti with courgettes
or spaghetti alla Nerano was born. Ingredients to make pasta alla Nerano. We have
these courgettes, possibly the light green ones
over there that are sweeter, with a little bit of butter,
a little bit of basil, a little bit of pepper. My son, to pay homage, let's say, to the coast uses today Provolone del Monaco. Many years
ago you could keep the cows at home and
with the milk we used to make caciocavalli, we
made caciotte and these were the cheeses
that 50 years ago were in Nerano,
including the butter. All this hasn't
been there over the years anymore, but Provolone Del Monaco was born in the area of Vico Equense
and monks used to make it. It was called Provolone del Monaco
because it was the color of the tunics that the old friars wore, as it was a bit smoked. Provolone
del Monaco was not something
that was in Nerano. First of all for the
traditional recipe we have the cut of the zucchini. We're cutting the zucchini
not very thick and and not very thin, into lightly thick
slices, then we fry them with extra virgin olive oil and a bit of peanuts oil. We're frying. When they are brown,
we're removing the zucchini, we're placing them on
absorbent paper and and dry them well.
And then we're starting to prepare our recipe. Let's place the fried
zucchini in a bowl with a little pepper,
some butter, basil. Then we add the cheeses. We're adding a little bit of Provolone del Monaco to pay homage to our traditions
and a little bit of pasta water so that it starts creating this bit of cream. We're gradually starting to stir and
everything slowly begins to incorporate. Let's keep going slowly, a little at a time. When everything is mixed, the pasta is ready and we're serving it in a homely way, let's say,
and this is spaghetti alla Nerano in the version
that we consider traditional. Once we have shown the classic spaghetti alla Nerano, we will now
show you how the time and our
culinary sensitivity has transformed this dish. Here we are back inside the kitchens of Quattro Passi, this time for
the new recipe, let's say, our recipe for Nerano. We will use the slicer in off mode and slice our zucchini, cutting them at 1-1.5 millimeter. The courgettes should be left
to air dry at least one night before we fry them so we can lower the frying temperature from 180 to 160/150°C and the osmosis process therefore the exchange
of water for the coloring of the zucchini is easier.
On the right we have the zucchini freshly cut with the help of our slicer and on the left the zucchini we cut yesterday and
left to dry in the air. As you can see
the color is different. OK. Let's check
the oil temperature using a thermometer.
We are around 150-160°C. OK, in the meantime
our courgettes are frying for about
a couple of minutes the time has come to throw our linguine in the water.
The cooking time is around 11-12 minutes. The choice of pasta brings us to Gragnano. we're using bronze drawn linguine
with a slow drying, meaning a pasta with a lot of starch,
and the linguina being flatter, having more surface, clings
better to the sauce. It has a different chew, longer, as you can see the pasta has a more wrinkled appearance than the spaghetti we used before. After this is done, let the
zucchini rest on absorbent paper. As you can see, the frying is
much drier and the zucchini absorbed less oil. We're using the
zucchini flower to make the most of the ingredient, as it gives
a chromatic touch to the dish, therefore bringing out
its elegance but it also gives a particular
texture to the palate. We chose to include the
zucchini flower to give a floral note to the dish. So, flowers, the basil, we're adding our 40 grams of butter each portion of pasta. The cheese matter
is very subjective. We're using two different Parmesan
ages, one for creaminess which is around 12-18 months
of aging, another for the gustatory intensity and the sapidity, 24 months. Clearly we have different
proportions: 60% of 12-18 and 40% of 24 months. We don't limit ourselves
to zero km as regards the choice of cheese, also the choice of butter follows the same reasoning. We're not limiting ourselves
to a national butter, but searching for a butter of excellence like Normandy butter. This time we will not work on a bain-Marie,
but on the flame. The only difference is we're going to add the Parmesan off the heat to
complete the dish. Important thing: the butter must not melt before
meeting the pasta, otherwise it will lose
its emulsifying properties so we'll have a slightly split
pasta. Let's introduce some pasta cooking water then gently melt
the butter over low heat, creaming our pasta with all
the ingredients. OK, the pasta at this stage is releasing its starch, which
allows us to see the already basic creaminess
that is quite different from before. We are ready to start creaming, then we're gently
adding the Parmesan off the flame. A bit of water to melt it a bit. OK, here we are. And we are ready for plating. The courgettes prevailed much more before,
this is much more balanced in the elements. All that is left is to thank you all. We showed these two versions of Nerano, I hope you liked them. Come and visit us
on the coast and greetings to all friends of ItaliaSquisita
from the whole Mellino family!
