Foodstuff: Summer’s last blast

I feel like I write about this every year, but is zucchini coming out of anyone else’s ears? It’s the perfect time for produce, when summer and autumn collide, and we can take advantage of all the best of the market’s bounty before the first, inevitable, freeze of fall. But that bounty can be overwhelming.

So if you’ve breaded it, broiled it, baked it, grilled it, put it on pizza, put it in cakes, shaved it raw, or done any other manner of prepared summer squash by now, you may be feeling burned out. Have no fear! I have a pasta recipe that seems to be very on trend lately and knocked my socks off during a recent trip to a restaurant in Chicago. Pasta alla Nerano was the featured seasonal item on the menu at Sal’s, a Lincoln Park neighborhood joint, where I dined al fresco and approximated the Lake Michigan breeze for the summer winds of seaside Sorrento.

There are many, many variations of this recipe all over the internet; I chose this from Allrecipes.com as it seemed to be the closest approximation to the dish I recently enjoyed in the Windy City. Yes, the vegetables are fried. Yes, it’s a pain to slice them to the appropriate thickness. But it’s delicious and uses a lot of zucchini, which is what I’m going for right about now.

Spaghetti alla Nerano

Serves 2

• 1 qt. sunflower oil, or as needed
• 6 medium green zucchinis*
• 4 oz. spaghetti
• 2 T olive oil
• Salt to taste
• 2 basil leaves, torn into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Garlic clove, minced
• 5 T grated provolone del Monaco cheese**
• 3 T grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Place sunflower oil in a deep fryer, and heat to 350°***. Slice zucchini into 1/8-inch rounds.

Add some zucchini to the hot oil, and deep fry until lightly browned, four to five minutes. Then, drain in a single layer on paper towels, and repeat to cook remaining zucchini. Let zucchini cool to room temperature.

Transfer cooled zucchini slices to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate, eight hours to overnight.