Spaghetti alla Jacky O
From Ristorante La Tonnarella, Conca dei Marini | Amalfi Coast
The summer of 1962. Jacqueline Kennedy is spending her days on the Amalfi Coast, based at the clifftop villa of Alessandro D’Urso, a lawyer and old family friend, just above the village of Conca dei Marini. Mornings, she takes a boat to Amalfi for a cold coffee and a Sfogliatella Santa Rosa, the ricotta-stuffed pastry that Dominican nuns invented at the local monastery sometime in the 18th century and that remains, to this day, one of the best reasons to get out of bed on this coast. Afternoons, she swims with Caroline and John Jr. in the cove below the villa, then walks barefoot to a small restaurant on the beach: fishing nets on the walls, cork floats hanging from the ceiling, pots stacked in the corners.
The place is La Tonnarella, named after the tonnara (tuna net storage) that used to occupy the building. The owner, Umberto Lauritano, known to everyone as “O’Bacchiss,” makes her the same thing every time: spaghetti with tender local courgettes, a little speck, basil, olive oil, Parmigiano. Five ingredients, no fuss, and absolutely no way to replicate it with supermarket zucchini in January.
Jackie’s visits turned a fisherman’s canteen into an Amalfi Coast institution. The dish never left the menu. Umberto’s sons run the place now, Angelo cooking and Franco greeting, and while the guest list has expanded considerably since the 1960s, the spaghetti hasn’t changed at all.
A note on the other zucchini pasta
People confuse this with spaghetti alla Nerano, which comes from the village of Nerano about 20 minutes down the coast. Different dish entirely. The Nerano version uses deep-fried zucchini slices bound with a secret local cheese into a rich, clinging emulsion. It was probably invented at Restaurant Maria Grazia in 1952, and the most celebrated version today is served at Lo Scoglio da Tommaso in Marina del Cantone. Both are wonderful. They share a coastline and a vegetable, and that’s about it. More on the Nerano version in our article Beyond the Beach Club: A Descent into Nerano and the Bay of Ieranto.
Notes
The courgettes matter. Use small, firm, young courgettes. The large watery ones you find in supermarkets in winter will not give you the same result. If you can find Italian zucchine romane (the ridged, pale green variety), even better.
Keep it simple. Five ingredients, nowhere to hide. Good olive oil, good Parmigiano, courgettes that actually taste of something. That’s the gap between a forgettable weeknight pasta and the one Jackie Kennedy kept going back for.
About La Tonnarella
Conca dei Marini is a clifftop village wedged between Amalfi and Positano, quieter than either, with a fraction of the crowds and none of the linen shops. La Tonnarella sits on the beach in a sheltered cove, tables under a pergola, feet practically in the water. They run a free boat shuttle from Amalfi port, which saves you the hairpin road and looks considerably more glamorous.
If you go, order the spaghetti first and the pezzogna all’acqua pazza second: a whole fish poached with tomatoes and herbs, the kind of dish that makes you wonder why anyone bothers with complicated food. The wine list is short, local, and nobody will judge you for ordering the house white.
Ristorante La Tonnarella – Via Marina di Conca, 84010 Conca dei Marini Italy – Tel. +39 089 831939 – Website: www.ristorantelatonnarella.com – Open seasonally. Boat shuttle available from Amalfi port.
See also on Dolcevia: Beyond the Beach Club: Nerano and the Bay of Ieranto | Spaghetti van Jacky O (NL) | Amalfi Coast
Dining and Cooking