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It’s that wonderful time of year when all sorts of glorious vegetables are in season and at their peak. One such vegetable is that workhorse – zucchini. I feel like I could eat it almost every day and never tire of it. It’s so versatile, reasonable, and simple to prepare. Even though it’s available year-round, during summer it has much more flavor. Do you need a new way to prepare it? If so, try this classic dish from the Campania region called Zucchine alla Scapece.

Zucchine alla Scapece: a Campanian Classic

If you have ever visited Naples or the Amalfi Coast, you have probably encountered Zucchine alla Scapece. It’s everywhere. It’s a simple preparation of sliced zucchini that has been fried until lightly golden, then set to marinade in a mixture of fresh mint, chopped garlic, extra virgin olive oil and white wine vinegar. After letting it sit a few hours, or even better – overnight, you have a perfect summer dish. You can serve it as an appetizer, in a sandwich, or as an accompaniment to a main course. As far as I’m concerned, it goes well with everything – a Caprese salad, poultry, fish and grilled meats. I love it because it is best made in advance, keeps for days, and is served at room temperature. (Which is great for entertaining.) It’s delightful and refreshing.  I make it a lot, all summer long.

The first time I ever had Zucchine alla Scapece was in Capri in 2006. I fell in love with it immediately. It had such a chewy and appealing texture that I could barely tell it was zucchini. After finding an amazing recipe for it in Arthur Schwartz’ masterpiece Naples at Table, I found out how to achieve that glorious texture. He instructs to let the zucchini air dry on a rack for about 12 hours before frying. Traditionally, the zucchini was left to dry out in the sun on a hot summer day. Whatever method you choose, drying gets rid of excess water in the vegetable. As a consequence, you get this amazing texture and less oil gets sucked up by the zucchini as you fry it.

Let’s Lighten Things Up!

You know what though? Air dried or not – frying is frying and (unfortunately – grrr) I try to minimize eating fried foods when I can. Hence, my lightened version of the dish, adapted from Arthur Schwartz’ recipe. I broil the zucchini slices rather than fry them, using a very small amount of oil, and the result is a much lighter dish. I still air dry them and am able to lightly brown the zucchini in the oven, but don’t have the extra calories from frying. My stove is a lot less messy too! By preparing Zucchine alla Scapece al Forno (forno = oven) I get to eat it more often. (Hopefully I get more chocolate this way by saving calories here! Gelato anyone?)

Things to Keep in Mind

If you are reading this and saying to yourself, “Lady, I don’t have 2 days to make a side dish!”, never fear. It’s actually not labor intensive or complicated. If you follow my tips and timing below, you can streamline the process.

Tips

If you want to make the dish taste its best, I do recommend air drying the zucchini. It doesn’t have to be for the full 12 hours that Schwartz suggests. I’ve had great results just leaving the zucchini to dry for 6-8 hours, or even 3. Do what you can, based on your available time. Marcella Hazan, the famed cookbook author, salts her zucchini to rid it of excess moisture but I’ve been less happy with the results. It does work for speed, as you can slice the zucchini, salt it, and let it sit in a colander for a half an hour to get rid of the excess water. What I don’t like about the technique is that you need to rinse the salt off and pat the zucchini dry, which is a bit of the pain to me. You choose.

Some other helpful tips:

• Use smaller zucchini if possible. They have a sweeter flavor and fewer seeds.
• Slice the zucchini on a mandoline (carefully!), you’ll be prepped in minutes.
• Lay the zucchini out on drying racks at night before you go to bed.
• Cook the zucchini in the morning and let them marinate for the rest of the day.
• If refrigerating, take the zucchini out 1 hour or so before serving so that they are room temperature, not ice cold.

Even though one of the things that I love most about Zucchine alla Scapece is the texture, you can skip the drying part altogether and still have a lovely dish. I do this often when pressed for time and the flavors are the same. It’s going to be delicious either way.

Now to the recipe! Enjoy! Please leave me comments and questions below. I’d love to hear from you.