In the Campania region of southern Italy lies the Taburno-Camposauro Nature Park, a 50 square mile mountainous area about 8 miles west of Benevento and 47 miles northeast of Naples.
Orbiting this nature preserve are the small villages of Vitulano, Frasso- Telesino, Tocco Caudio and the village that my paternal ancestors called home, Cautano – the land of Patata Interrata (“potatoes in a grave”)*
For many Italian-Americans food plays a central role in preserving our collective memory of the old country and, perhaps even more importantly, preserving our personal memory of family, many of whom are long departed from this life.
So it did not come as a surprise when one day my dad, now 87 years young, told us he recently had a dream – a zucchini dream. And not just zucchini, an entire zucchini recipe – ingredients, prep, and all. This is what happens to those of us with Neapolitan roots. We dream of food.
Need This
4 large zucchinis
1 pound of chop meat (beef or turkey)
16 ounce block of Mozzarella cheese
1 – 15 ounce can of tomato sauce (we like Don Pepino)
3 large cloves of garlic – peeled and chopped
Olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper
Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Do This
Pour a glug of olive oil into a large fry pan and toss in the chopped garlic.
Put a medium heat under the pan and get the garlic a-fryin. When the garlic starts to sizzle throw in the chop meat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fry the chop meat in the garlic and oil until browned, then remove from the heat and cover.
Heat your oven to 350 F.
Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise.
Take a teaspoon and gently core out the center seeds so that the zucchini look like green canoes.
Hiss a little non-stick cooking spray onto a shallow baking pan (at least 15″ x 9″).
Place the cored out zucchini onto the baking pan – skin side down (cut side up).
Slather the channel in the zucchini boats with tomato sauce.
Place the baking pan into the hot oven – center rack. Bake the gussied up zucchini at 350 F for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until they are soft when pierced with a knife.
Remove the pan from the oven.
Pack the chop meat evenly into the saucy channels of the zucchini boats. Layer slices of mozzarella cheese over each boat and shake a little crushed red pepper flakes over the top (if using) then return the pan to the oven.
Bake another 5 – 7 minutes until the cheese has melted.
Serve hot with warmed tomato sauce on the side.
Serves 4. My cost approx. $ 8.80 total – about $ 2.20 per serving.
*A Cauatanese ritual dating back at least as far as the 1600s in which harvested potatoes are buried in deep earthen pits lined and topped with ferns. These pits became the winter storehouse that sustained the Cauatanese through the lean cold winter months. The ritual is still honored each year in Cauatano with a fall festival of wine, music, and of course buried potatoes prepared in a variety of ways by talented local chefs. GMN