Ingredients
For 4 people:
400 gr. spaghetti
900 gr. courgettes
40 gr. butter
400 gr. olive oil
a good amount of chopped basil
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
100 gr. grated cheese (”parmigiano”)
Salt
Pepper

In a large frying pan,  heat the oil over a medium heat, Add the courgette cut in round thick slices of about 2 mm, add the garlic and a pinch of cayenne and a generous sprinkling of salt and fry them little by little until the courgettes are soft, but not browned.
Season with cheese and basil, add the lemon juice and salt. Boil spaghetti, let the water drain away, and mix spaghetti with courgettes, add a couple of spoons of the fried courgette oil. Heat all for 1 minute, add a few more basil leaves and extra parmesan over the top and serve

Basic Gnocchi

Ingredients
2 1/4 pounds, mealy potatoes, peeled
1 3/4 cups flour
A pinch of salt

In making gnocchi you should steam the potatoes rather than boil them. If you do not have a steamer, put the potatoes in a metal colander, set the colander in a spaghetti pot, fill the pot with water to just below the colander, and set the pot, covered, to boil. The potatoes will be done in 30-45 minutes, when a skewer penetrates but they are still firm. Mash them while they’re still hot (a potato ricer works very well here). Slowly knead the flour and the salt into the potato mixture, so as to have a fairly firm dough. Roll the dough out into snakes about as thick as your finger, cut the snakes into one-inch pieces, and gently score the pieces crosswise with a fork. As an alternative to scoring with a fork, we suggests you gently press them against the inside of a curved cheese grater, to obtain a curved shape with a depression on one side. The choice is up to you.

Cook the gnocchi in abundant salted boiling water, removing them with a slotted spoon a minute or two after they rise to the surface. Drain them well and serve them with a few leaves of sage, melted sweet butter and Parmigiano, or meat sauce, or pomarola, or pesto.

The quantities above will make gnocchi sufficient for four as a main corse, or 6-8 as a first course in an Italian meal.

Salsa di Pomodoro alla Napoletana
Neapolitan tomato sauce

Though slow-cooking pomarola is quite tasty, there are times you’ll want something quicker — that’s when this classic Neapolitan sauce comes into play. It’s perfect for pasta, but will also work well with rice or pizza. To make about 1 1/4 pounds of sauce (in other words, a jar), you will need:

Ingredients
2 pounds ripe plum tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
12 fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Set a large pot full of water to boil. Meanwhile, wash the tomatoes and remove the brownish patches where the stems were attached using a sharp-pointed knife. Dump the tomatoes into the boiling water, blanch them for about a minute, and then run enough cold water into the pot so you can pick out the tomatoes without burning yourself. Peel the tomatoes, discarding their skins, seed them, slice them, and put them in a bowl. When you are done heat the oil and the garlic in another pot (traditionalists use one made of terracotta), and stir in the tomato filets before the oil garlic begins to crackle. Season with salt and pepper, simmer over a low flame for 10 minutes, stir in the basil leaves, simmer for five more minutes, and it’s done.

Figure about 1/4 cup of sauce (or more to taste) and 1/4 pound of pasta per serving; serve the pasta with grated cheese on the side.

To keep the sauce from becoming heavy, it’s very important that the oil not not get too hot before the tomatoes are stirred in. Also, some Neapolitan cooks of the older generation made this sauce using lard rather than oil.

Sorrento Restaurants
Simple and tasty dishes created with the basic ingredients of the Mediterranean cooking, generally locally produced, characterise the typical cooking of Sorrento Peninsula.
The Mediterranean diet is acknowledged everywhere like the most wholesome, natural and complete diet. It varies from the typical fish menus of the coast areas: Spaghetti alle vongole, mussels, squid, octopus, and countless native fish to the robust cooking of the extensive internal areas; Oil, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and spices are the basic ingredients of rich dishes like “cannelloni” (once called “strascinate”), “gnocchi”, pasta with beans, stuffed pepper (in dialect called “mbuttunat”) or of delicate dishes, such as “caprese” salad (tomatoes and mozzarella), pasta with courgettes, pickled anchovies, “parmigiana” of aubergines (fried aubergines with tomato sauce and cheese). Don’t miss the famous local pizza prepared in various specialities.
Local wine producers have made progress in leaps and bounds in recent years; look out for wines made from the white Fiano di Avellino or red Aglianico grapes.
Specialities of the territory is the limoncello (a typical liquor made with lemons), and the olive oil DOP (Protected Origin Product) of the Peninsula Sorrentina.

Sorrento Restaurants list

Restaurant Antico frantoio – Via Casarlano, 8 – Phone +39 081 8072959
Restaurant Curora - Piazza Tasso, 10 Phone +39 081 8781278
Restaurant Canonico 1898 – P.zza Tasso, 5 – Phone +39 081 8783277
Restaurant Caruso – Via Sant’Antonino, 12 – Phone +39 081 8073156
Restaurant Circolo dei Forestieri – Via L. De Maio.35 – Phone +39 081 8773263
Restaurant Crawford – Via M. Crawford, 6-8 – Phone +39 081 8772689
Restaurant Da Emilia – Marina Grande, 62 – Phone +39 081 8072720
Restaurant Da Filippo – Via Cesarano, 5 – Phone +39 081 8772448
Restaurant Da Franco - Pizzeria – Corso Italia, 265 – Phone +39 081 8772066
Restaurant Da Gaetano “Vino Vero” – Via Casarlano, 19 – Phone +39 081 8072200
Restaurant Di Leva – Via Marina Grande, 31 – Phone +39 081 8783826
Restaurant Donna Sofia – Via Talagnano, 5 – Phone +39 081 8773532
Restaurant Donna Vittoria – Piazza S.Antonino, 24 – Phone +39 081 8072304
Restaurant Don Pedro Caccaviello – Via Nastro Verde, 72 – Phone +39 081 8073910
Don Vincenzo – Piazza Tasso, 3-4 – Phone +39 081 8772631
Restaurant Giardiniello – Via dell’Accademia, 7 – Phone +39 081 8784616
Restaurant Gigino – Via degli Archi, 15 – Phone +39 081 8781927
Restaurant Il Borgo – Via Nastro Verde, 44/46 (Priora) – Phone +39 081 8781827
Restaurant Il Buco – II rampa Marina Piccola – Phone +39 081 8782354
Restaurant Il Delfino – Via Marina Grande, 216/a – Phone +39 081 8782038
Restaurant Il Leone Rosso - Pizzeria – Via Marziale, 25 – Phone +39 081 8073089
IRestaurant Il Pozzo – Via Tasso, 32 – Phone +39 081 8774876
Restaurant L’Abate - Piazza Sant’Antonino, 24 – Phone +39 081 8072304
Restaurant L’Antica Marinella – P.tta Marinella, 12 – Phone +39 081 8075674
Restaurant L’Antica Trattoria – Via P.R. Giuliani, 45 – Phone +39 081 8071082
Restaurant La basilica – Via Sant’Antonino, 12 – Phone +39 081 8774790
Restaurant La Fenice – Via degli Aranci, 13 – Phone +39 081 8781652
Restaurant La Frusta - Pizzeria – Via S.Maria della Pietà, 38 – Phone +39 081 8071324
Restaurant La Kambusa – P.zza Marinai d’Italia, 2 (porto) – Phone +39 081 8781234
Restaurant La Lanterna – Via S.Cesareo, 23-25 – Phone +39 081 8781355
Restaurant La Lanterna 2 – Via S.M. delle Grazie, 28 – Phone +39 081 8074521
Restaurant La Stalla – Via Pietà, 3 – Phone +39 081 8074145
Restaurant La Tonnarella – Via Capo, 31 – Phone +39 081 8781153
Restaurant La Vela Bianca – Via Marina Piccola, 7 (porto) – Phone +39 081 8781144
Restaurant Le Macine – Via Atigliana, 6 – Phone +39 081 8072034
Restaurant Le Palme – Via Nastro Verde, 82 – Phone +39 081 8784868
Restaurant L’Osteria del Buon Convento – Via B.Donnorso, 5/7 – Phone +39 081 8773637
Restaurant Lo Sperone – Via Talagnano, 5 – Phone +39 081 8071929
Restaurant Marameo - Pizzeria – Spiaggia San Francesco – Phone +39 081 8783381
Restaurant Master Host - Pizzeria – Corso Italia, 244/b – Phone +39 081 8773377
Restaurant O’ Parrucchiano – La Favorita – C.so Italia, 71-73 – Phone +39 081 8781321
Restaurant O’ Sole mio – Via Parsano Vecchia, 16 – Phone +39 081 8771067
Restaurant Photo - Food & Drinks – Via Correale, 19 – Phone +39 081 8773686
Restaurant Sant’Anna – Via degli Aranci, 13 – Phone +39 081 8074038
Restaurant Santa Croce al Picco – Via Nastro Azzurro, 25 – Phone +39 081 5333440
Restaurant Sant’Antonino – Via S.M. delle Grazie, 6 – Phone +39 081 8771200
Restaurant Sorrento Inn – Via Fuoro, 21 – Phone +39 081 8773123
Restaurant Sottocoperta – Via degli Aranci, 48 – Phone +39 081 8072967
Restaurant Tasso – Via Correale, 11/a – Phone +39 081 8785809
Restaurant Taverna Azzurra – Via Marina Grande, 166 – Phone +39 081 8772510
Restaurant The Garden – Corso Italia, 50/a – Phone +39 081 8781195
Verdemare – Via Capo, 70 – Phone +39 081 8782589
Restaurant Villa Rubinacci – Via Correale, 25 – Phone +39 081 8073382
Restaurant Zi’ Ntonio – Via L. De Maio, 11 – Phone +39 081 8781623
Restaurant Zi’ Ntonio Mare – Via Marina Grande, 180 – Phone +39 081 8073033